R. Judah b. Joseph Ashkenazi (?1730–1791), rabbi and rosh yeshivah of Smyrna. R. Ashkenazi was a judge in matters of tax assessment and taught Talmud and codes in the city's yeshivot. R. Moses b. Joshua Soncino later financed the establishment of a yeshivah (Mahazikei ha-Torah) for him. His foremost pupil was R. Raphael Isaac Mayo, who later became chief rabbi of Smyrna. Another pupil, R. Hayyim Joshua Soncino, son of the yeshivah's founder, financed the publication of his teacher's first work. Ashkenazi wrote many works which were edited posthumously by his son, Raphael. Mahaneh Ye'udah (Salonika, 1793) was originally intended as a commentary on the talmudic tractate Bava Batra but since it is essentially a clarification of the relevant halakhah in Jacob b. Asher's Tur, it was rearranged and edited by his son as a commentary to the Tur Hoshen Mishpat. Among his other works are:Gevul Ye'udah (1821), on tractate Gittin, etc.; Kehal Ye'udah (1825), on Yoreh De'ah, including a commentary to tractate Bezah; Seridei Ye'udah (1831), homilies delivered at weddings, and eulogies, published by his grandson Abraham b. Raphael. Ashkenazi's first name appears in the title of all his works as "Ye'udah" in accordance with the pious custom of not writing the name as it is spelled since it contains the letters of the Tetragrammaton.

סובב הולך בפתחי שערים ... ספרי דבי רב רבנן בתראי ... על ים התלמוד מראש ועד סוף ולשונות רש"י והתוספות ... להגיד לאדם באותו פרק באותו מקום מי ומי הם המדברים ... אמרי פי ... רפאל אשכנזי ס"ט ...

בהקדמה אומר המחבר: "למען דפו ס את ספר יד יהודה [מאת אביו, שאלוניקי תקע"ו. עיין: אשכנזי, יהודה בן יוסף. ] ... הלא הוא אמר לי הנה עתה אגב אסיפ'א הקריבהו נא הדא". מספרי העמ' של הספר הנוכחי הם אפוא ההמשך של "יד יהודה".