R. Hayyim Joseph David Azulai (Hida, 1724–1806) was a halakhist, kabbalist, emissary, and bibliographer. Born in Jerusalem; Hida was descended on his father's side from a prominent family of rabbis and kabbalists from Spain while his mother was a daughter of R. Joseph Bialer who had gone to Erez Israel with R. Judah Hasid in 1770. He studied under some of the outstanding Jewish scholars of his age including R. Jonah Navon, R. Isaac ha-Kohen Rapoport, and R. Hayyim ibn Attar. R. Azulai attained early eminence in Jewish studies and was regarded by the Jewry of the Ottoman Empire and of Italy as the leading scholar of his generation. He was highly esteemed, too, by the Jews of Germany, especially after the publication of his works. Possessed of great intellectual powers and many-faceted talents, he combined a religious and mystical ardor with an insatiable intellectual curiosity. Added to these were critical ability, a facile pen, and a boundless capacity for work. He spent most of his active years traveling abroad as an emissary of the communities of Erez Israel for the collection of funds for the upkeep of the academies and scholars. Between 1753 and 1758 he visited Italy, Germany, Holland, France, and England as shali'ah of the Hebron Yeshivah. During these travels he refused the call to become hakham of the Sephardim in Amsterdam. On his return to Jerusalem, where he remained for some seven years, he served as dayyan and engaged in communal activities. He also became a member of R. Shalom Sharabi's esoteric group of kabbalists, Ahavat Shalom. He left Erez Israel again in 1764, having been delegated to travel to Constantinople to intercede on behalf of the scholars in their disputes with the communal leaders, but learning en route that the communal leaders had triumphed in the dispute and of the consequent futility of his proceeding on his mission, he remained in Cairo where he served briefly as rabbi. R. Azulai returned in 1769 and settled in Hebron where he was held in high esteem. In 1772 he again went abroad as the emissary of Hebron, this time devoting most of his efforts to Italy where, on his earlier visit, he had gained many admirers. Having sent a large sum of money to Hebron which relieved the financial difficulties of its community, he ended his mission in 1778 in Leghorn, where he spent the rest of his life. During his highly successful missions, R. Azulai earned a great reputation for his involvement in communal activities. Once, when he was taken to the court of Versailles, he attracted royal attention through his striking appearance. At Leghorn, for his annual discourse, the streets were crowded with admirers who wished to catch a glimpse of his person. Hida devoted himself, however, also to writing, study, and research. He exchanged views with Jewish as well as non-Jewish scholars and investigated scholarly literature. Everywhere he went he visited libraries, both private and public, and noted down their rarities, both in early printed books and also in manuscripts, almost as Moritz Steinschneider, the father of Jewish scientific bibliography, was to do in the following century.

His chief claims to fame as a halakhist rest on his glosses to the Shulhan Arukh, contained in his Birkei Yosef (1774), Mahazik Berakhah (1785), and Shiyyurei Berakhah (1771–76), which complemented R. Hayyim Benveniste's Keneset ha-Gedolah with citations from later halakhic works and from numerous manuscripts. In his books Va'ad la-Hakhamim (1796) and Shem ha-Gedolim (1, 1774; 2, 1786; scholarly ed., 1853), R. Azulai followed in the footsteps of R. Shabbetai Bass, adding 1,300 bibliographical references to the approximately 2,200 already contained in the Siftei Yeshenim. R. Azulai seems to have been the first Hebrew writer to be interested in collecting Jewish folk-stories in a systematic way. In his Zikhron Ma'asiyyot ve-Nissim he listed hundreds of these; in most cases he wrote down only a detail or two, to identify them, whereas less famous stories were given in greater detail or in full. Many stories were related of the wonders and miracles Azulai performed. Pilgrimages were made to his tomb at Leghorn until, some 150 years after his death, in 1960, his remains were reinterred in Jerusalem.

בראשו (דף ב, א) הקדמת ישפ"ה [יוסף שבתי פרחי], שהביא את הספר לדפוס. דף כג, ב-כח, ב: "שמע טוב" ו"שבחי הרב חיד"א זלה"ה", אוסף סיפורים והנהגות של החיד"א מפי נכדו, ר' משה אזולאי, מ"ספר הזכרון שה' אינה לידי מכיה"ק עצמה של הר' חיד"א...מסדר הנהגתו וקדושתו בשליחותו. שהיה כותב בפתקאות להיות לו לזכרון" ומפי מגידי-אמת. על "שמע טוב ו"שבחי הרב חיד"א עיין: מאיר בניהו, שבחי הרב חיד"א - ספר החיד"א, ירושלים תשי"ט, עמ' קעח-קצח; מאיר בניהו, רבי חיים יוסף דוד אזולאי, ירושלים תשי"ט, עמ' תקל, תקלב-תקלד.