R. Hayyim Moses b. Solomon Amarillo (1695–1748), was born in Salonika, where hestudied under his father Solomon, who before his death appointed him his successor as preacher in the Talmud Torah congregation. The community, however, opposed this appointment and on the death of R. Solomon they prevailed upon R. Joseph David, author of Beit David, to accept the position. R. Hayyim Moses filled many posts in Salonika, teaching in his father's yeshivah and enacting local takkanot. With the outbreak of plague in 1724 he fled. In 1733 he was in Constantinople. Upon R. Joseph David's death in 1736, R. Hayyim Moses was appointed one of the three chief rabbis.