5 Adar 5401 – February 15 1641
Sarra Copio Sullam (1592? – 1641), was a Venetian Jewess, celebrated by many intellectuals of her time for her culture and her beauty. Her house in the Old Ghetto in Venice was frequented by renowned poets and writers. Impressed with the positive way Queen Esther was portrayed by Christian cleric Ansaldo Cebà from Genoa in one of his poems, she corresponded with him for four years, in which he tried, hopelessly, to convert her to Christianity. In 1621 another scholar, Baldassar Bonifacio, accused her of doubting the soul’s immortality – a punishable charge of heresy. Sara answered with a renowned Manifesto, defending not only herself but all the Jewish people.