Physical Description:

Only edition, quarto, [1], 187 ff., 200:144 mm.., usual age anddamp staining, wide margins. A very good copy bound in later boards, rubbed..

Detailed Description:   

Only edition of this commentary on the Ein Ya’akov by R. Hayyim ben Jacob Abulafia. The title-page, with attractive pillared columns, informs that Yashresh Ya'akov is on the entire Ein Ya’akov based on a selection of earlier works. At the end of Yashresh Ya'akov is the work Ba’er Lehai, discourses on the weekly Torah readings by R. Isaac Nissim ibn Gamil, R. Abulafia’s grandfather, and an index.

R. Hayyim ben Jacob Abulafia (c. 1660–1744), known as the Second was the grandson of R. Hayyim ben Jacob Abulafia the First. About 1666 the Abulafia family moved from Hebron to Jerusalem, where R. Hayyim studied with R. Moses Galante and others. In 1699 he went on a mission to Salonika, and in 1712 he served as rabbi in Smyrna and in 1718 in Safed where he remained until 1721, when he was reappointed rabbi of Smyrna, living there for almost 20 years. In 1742–43 war broke out between Suleiman, pasha of Damascus, and Dahir. Abulafia encouraged the Jews to remain in Tiberias and gave full support to the sheikh. In the two campaigns, which ensued – the first of which ended on the 4^th of Kislev 1743 and the second ending with the death of Suleiman on the 5^th of Elul – the sheikh was victorious. R. Abulafia declared these two dates as holidays, which the Jews of Tiberias continued to observe annually. He died in Tiberias on the 16^th of Nisan 5504. R. Abulafia was a prolific author, but only those of his works which he published while in Smyrna have appeared in print: In addition to (1) Yashresh Ya'akov (1729), on the Ein Ya'akov; there is (2) Mikra'ei Kodesh (1729), on the laws of Passover, on Esther, homilies, and novellae on the Talmud and Maimonides; (3) Eẓ ha-Hayyim (1729), on the weekly portions; (4) Yosef Lekaḥ, pt. one on Genesis and Exodus; pt. two on Leviticus (1730); pt. three on Numbers and Deuteronomy (1732); (5) Shevut Ya'akov (1734), on the Ein Ya'akov; (6) Ḥanan Elohim (1737), on the Pentateuch, appended to Hayyim va-Ḥesed, by his grandfather, Isaac Nissim ben Gamil.

Hebrew Description:   

והוא פי’ על כל עין יעקב ממה שלקט מפי סופרים ומפי ספרי’ ונופך משלו ... כמהר"ר חיים אבואלעפייא נר"ו ובסופו ספר באר לחי מהרב הגדול כמה"ר יצהק ניסים ן’ ג’אמיל ז"ל ... ‬

דף קמב,ב - קמה,א: נשמט מסוף ס’ מקראי קדש טור א"ח ס’ תצח. גם דף קפו,ב: נשמט מס’ מקראי קדש ה’ יסודי התו’ פ"ט.

מדף קמה,ב: באר לחי ...חידושין ממוהר"ר ... יצחק ן’ גאמיל זלה"ה [חיי שרה - האזינו].

Reference:   

BE yod 1154; EJ; Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000105274