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Prayers to be recited at the occasion of the new moon by R. Joseph Shallit ben Eliezer Richietti. The title page has a decorative border and is dated, “I shall give thanks with uprightness בישר (512 = 1752) of heart” (Psalms 119:7). The text states that it is for those who vow and fast erev Rosh Hodesh. R. Richietti’s name is given on the title page as Raphael Hayyim of Italy but the work is generally attributed to him as R. Joseph Shallit ben Eliezer Richietti. There are introductions, the second from the famed kabbalist, R. Moses ben Mordecai Zacuto (1620-97). The text is set in a single column in square vocalized letters. It begins with Tikkun Hatzot and concludes with bakashot.
R. Joseph Shallit ben Eliezer Richietti, (17th century) was rabbi and emissary of the Holy Land. R. Richietti apparently came from Mantua and settled in Safed some time after 1659. From 1674 to 1676 he was an emissary of Safed in Italy. R. Moses Zacuto welcomed him with great honor upon his arrival in Mantua in 1674. He was a Shabbatean of Zacuto’s circle. During his mission he published his Hokhmat ha-Mishkan or Iggeret Meleket ha-Mishka (Mantua, 1676) on the erection of the Tabernacle, at the end of which he republished the Iggeret Mesapperet Yahasuta de-Zaddikei de-Ara de-Yisrael (A genealogical table of the righteous men of Erez Israel). In the introduction to the work he speaks of having drawn up a map of Erez Israel. He also edited Hibbur ha-Ma’asiyyot weha-Midrashot weha-Haggadot, a collection of tales and legends from the Talmud and the Midrash (Verona, 1647), He appears also to have spent some time in Verona. According to documents of the Mantua community, he lent a sum of money to the community during a time of need. He possessed important manuscripts, among them a copy of the Midrash ha-Gadol, and was the first European scholar to make use of it. |
