Physical Description:

Detailed Description:   

Collection of essays and liturgies on morality, halacha, and Kabbalah by R. Jacob b. Solomon Sukari eminent scholar and rabbi of Damascus and Jerusalem. He was a son of the Av Bet Din (Chief Judge) of the Damascus community. However, R. Jacob moved to Jerusalem when he had the opportunity. On his mother's side he was a grandson of R. Jacob Antebi and was named after him. He also wrote Vayikra Ya'acov, inspirational lectures (Livorno 5640/1880). R. Jacob was burdened with the care of a large family and was under great financial pressure. Accordingly, he was forced to go abroad to seek help, going as far as Egypt and India. He was well received wherever he went, but his difficult economic circumstances haunted him throughout his life. He passed away in Jerusalem on 6 Shevat, 5668 (1908) and was buried on the Mount of Olives.

The first Jewish merchant to settle in Calcutta was Shalom b. Obadiah ha-Cohen (d. 1836), originally from Aleppo, who, after a successful stay in Surat, arrived in Calcutta in 1798 and developed a profitable trade there in jewels and precious stones. In 1816 he became the court jeweler of the Muslim ruler Ghazi al-Din Haydar and his son at Lucknow. Shalom ha-Cohen was soon joined in Calcutta by members of his family and business associates from Surat and Bombay, among whom Jacob Zemah Nissim figured prominently. With the arrival of Moses b. Simon Duwayk ha-Cohen and his family from Aleppo, Calcutta began to develop into one of the most prosperous and flourishing cultural and economic centers of Jewish life in India. Jews from Cochin and Yemen flocked there and took an active part in its development.

Hebrew Description:   

References:   

Yaari, Calcutta 37; EJ; Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000153461; Aleppo, City of Scholars