History of the Jews in Apulia "Yisrael Nosha" which is included in the Neilah service on the Day of Atonement in the Ashkenazi liturgy. Amittai in Oria, and Silano in Venosa were also well-known poets. Torah scholars are mentioned from the middle of the tenth century in Bari, Oria, and Otranto. The Josippon chronicle, composed sometime in the mid-tenth century, is a product of the southern Italian Jewish/Hebrew culture. The south Italian Jewry contributed to the early Ashkenazi culture in central Europe. The Jews of France and Germany recognized the scholarship of the Apulian center as late as the 12th century. This is acknowledged in a
Blood atonement simply is no such thing among us as a doctrine of blood atonement that grants a remission of sins or confers any other benefit upon a person because his own blood is shed for sins. Let me say categorically and unequivocally that this doctrine can only operate in a day when there is no separation of Church and State and when the power to take life is vested in the ruling theocracy as was the case in the day of Moses. Regarding "blood atonement" in a theocracy, the "Encyclopedia of Mormonism" states: Several early Church leaders, most notably Brigham Young,