VENTURE, MARDOCHÉE:

French scholar; flourished at Avignon in the latter part of the eighteenth century. In collaboration with Isaiah Vidal he composed the "Seder ha-Ḳonṭres" (Avignon, 1765), a collection of liturgical chants for the use of the Jews of the county of Venaissin. This compilation includes a piyyuṭ (p. 47; comp. Zunz, "Z. G." p. 473) composed by Venture, partly in Hebrew and partly in Provençal, which was translated into French by Sabatier in his "Chansons Hébraïco-Provençales des Juifs Comtadins" (Nîmes, 1876) and by Pedro II., of Alcantara, Emperor of Brazil, in his "Poésies Hébraïco-Provençales du Rituel Israélite Comtadin" (Avignon, 1891).

Venture himself translated into French: "Prières Journalières à l'Usage des Juifs Portugais ou Espagnols" (Nice, 1772); "Prières des Jours du Rosch-Haschana et du Jour de Kippour" (ib. 1773); "Prières des Jours de Jeûnes" (Paris, 1807); and "Prières des Fêtes de Pessach, Schebouot, et de Souccot" (ib. 1807; 2d ed., ib. 1845).

S. S. K.
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