19:48:23
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Bidding Information
Lot #
4167
Auction End Date
4/1/2003 11:38:00 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)
Title Information
Title (English)
Mai'im Amukim
Title (Hebrew)
מים עמקים
Author
R. Elijah Mizrahi
City
Venice
Publisher
Vendramina
Publication Date
1647
Collection Information
Independent Item
This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
Description Information
Physical
Description
[2], 160, [2] f., folio, 289:196 mm., light dampstaining, wide margins, some foxing, old Sephardic hands on title and f.1. A good copy bound in modern full calf, tooled in gild, spine in compartments with gild frames.
Paragraph 1
Frist edition.
Detailed
Description
Responsa by the rabbinical authority and perhaps greatest of the rabbis of the Ottoman Empire of his time. Mizrahi was of Romaniot origin (the original Turkish Jews as distinct from the Spanish exiles) and was born and educated in Constantinople. Among his teachers he mentions R. Elijah ha-Levi in rabbinic studies and Mordecai Comitiano in general studies. Until the death of R. Moses Capsali, Mizrahi devoted himself to study and public instruction. As early as 1475 he is mentioned as heading a keneset (probably a school in addition to a synagogue) and as having students. After the death of R. Capsali in 1498 Mizrahi became the foremost rabbinical authority in Constantinople and in fact throughout the whole Ottoman Empire. From far and near, problems of halakhah and procedure were addressed to him. There is reason to believe that he filled the position of head of the rabbis of Constantinople (though he did not have the title of hakham bashi, appointed by the sultan, since that office did not exist at that period). Nevertheless, it would seem that his authority derived not from any official position, but from the recognition of his personality and strength. He was considered both by his contemporaries and later generations as the greatest posek of his time in Turkey. He was firm and unbending in his decisions, and even the great rabbis among the Spanish exiles accepted his authority.
Paragraph 2
[מאת] ר' אליה מזרחי ואחריו... ר' אליהו ן' חיים זלה"ה, בקצת תשובות חדשות ופסקים אשר לא באו בכתובים ומודפסים כבר...
Reference
Description
CD-EPI 0147454; Vinograd, Venice 1271
Associated Images
No images are associated with this listing
Listing Classification
Period
18th Century:
Checked
Location
Italy:
Checked
Subject
Halacha:
Checked
Responsa:
Checked
Characteristic
First Editions:
Checked
Language:
Hebrew
Manuscript Type
Kind of Judaica
