Only edition. [7], 75 ff., quarto, 204:150 mm., wide margins, usual light age and damp staining, stamps. A good copy not bound.

 

R. Isaac b. Moses Abulafia (1824–1910), was born in Tiberias, was rabbi of Damascus from c. 1877. His authoritarian attitude and his habit of making independent halakhic decisions roused the opposition of the other rabbis and of the communal leaders of Damascus, who united in an attempt to remove him from his position. In 1896 they turned to R. Moses ha-Levi, the hakham bashi, in Constantinople, who acceded to their request by appointing R. Solomon Eliezer Alfandari rabbi of Damascus. The two rabbis did not at first cooperate with each other. Later, however, R. Alfandari brought R. Abulafia into the sphere of his activities. Toward the end of his life R. Abulafia acted as rabbi in Tyre. From there he moved to Jerusalem, and finally to Tiberias, where he died. An outstanding halakhic scholar, his responsa Penei Yizhak were published in six volumes (1871–1906). Some scholars, especially R. Shalom Hai Gagin of Jerusalem, were critical of the first volume, and R. Abulafia wrote Lev Nishbar (1878) in reply to his critics.

 

Hebrew Description

... אני מציל ממתקוממים בימינו אשר השיגוני ואשר רדפוני אויבי חינם על דברתי בעניותי בספרי הקטן פני יצחק ח"א ובתשו' כת"י והן עתה לא באתי אלא לחזק דברי הראשונים ... יצחק [בן] משה אבואלעפייא ... שנת לב נ'ש'ב'ר' ו'נ'ד'כ'ה' א'להים לא תבזה

נגד ספרו של ר' שלום משה חי גאגין "ישמח לב", ירושלים תרל"ח, שם נכתבו דברים בגנותו של המחבר. על הפולמוס ראה: י. הראל, השפעתם של הספרים פני יצחק, ישמח לב ולב נשבר על המאבק סביב הרבנות בדמשק, אסופות, יא, תשנ"ח, עמ' רכג-רכט.