Physical Description:

Only edition. 98 ff. octavo 165:104 mm., light age and damp staining, wide margins, wormhole in margin of pp 39-54 not affecting text, stamps. A very good copy bound in contemporary leather  over boards.

Detailed Description:   

Only edition of prayers of thanksgiving and fasting for the 22nd day of Shevat by R. Malachi ben Jacob Kohen. Shivhei Todah (Praises of Thanksgiving) commemorate the rescue of the Leghorn community from the earthquake of 1742. There is an introduction by R. Kohen and then the order of prayers for the day, concluding with prayers on the earthquake and for the ill. In January 1742, from the 5th (Friday, 29 Tevet 5502) through the 16th (Tuesday 11 Shevat) Livorno experienced a series of earthquakes which, it is reported, left no major building undamaged. These earthquakes were significant enough to be the subject of a pamphlet by a Mr. Horton, Schoolmaster at Hampton, then Chaplain to the British factory in Leghorn, published in London, and noted in another pamphlet by Z. Grey on earthquakes published in Cambridge, both in 1750. In addition to Shivhei Todah several other Hebrew works commemorating the earthquake were published.

R. Malachi ben Jacob Kohen (d. 1785–1790) was an Italian scholar. Little is known of his life. He was the pupil of Abraham R. Hayyim Raphael Rodrigues and of the kabbalist R. Joseph Ergas , whom he succeeded as rabbi of Leghorn after the latter's death in 1730. He arranged Ergas' work Divrei Yosef for publication (Leghorn, 1742). He lived to an old age, dying in Tripoli, where he had apparently served as an emissary for Ereẓ Israel. Malachi is best known through his work Yad Malakhi (ibid., 1767), which deals with the methodology of the Talmud and the codifiers. Part 1 contains principles of the Talmud in alphabetical order; Part 2, principles of the codifiers in chronological order; and Part 3, principles of various laws in alphabetical order. His novellae and responsa are found in the works of contemporary scholars. A manuscript of his responsa, Teshuvot Yad Malakhi, was published by E. Gruenhut in Ha-Me'assef, 5 (1900). Malachi was also a liturgical poet. He composed Sefer Shirei Zimrah, which includes poems and dirges, part of which was published by S. Bernstein (Mizraḥ u-Ma'arav, 3 (1929), 245–61). His poem written on the occasion of the inauguration of the synagogue in Leghorn in 1742 was also published in Piperno's Kol Ugav (Leghorn, 1846).

Hebrew Description:

שנשבחו... ע"י... ר' מלאכי הכהן נר"ו בכה"ר יעקב זלה"ה. להודות לשם ה' כל קהל ... ליוורנו... ביום צום... של כב בשבט אשר קיימו וקבלו עליהם. על... אשר... ה'... הושיעם מהרעש הגדול [בשנת תק"ב]... והקריב... תפלות ותחנות אשר פעל ועשה... בסדר חדש... בשנת באהבתו ו'ב'ח'מ'ל'ת'ו' ה'ו'א' גאלם

כולל: שחרית; לימודי; מנחה... [כולל] סדר תיקון שובבים ... מהרב... ר' משה זכות; הערות; תפלה על הרעש; תפלה על החולים. על הרעש בליוורנו, עיין: ר' רפאל מילדולה, שבר במצרים, ליוורנו תק"ב.