Aaron ben Moses Alfandari ( 1700 – 1774 in Hebron) () was a

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ic writer born in

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...

. He emigrated to the

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...

(

Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria () is a historiographical term used to describe the group of divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of the Levant, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Ara ...

at the time) in his old age, where he met

Chaim Yosef David Azulai Haim Yosef David Azulai ben Yitzhak Zerachia (; 1724 – 1 March 1806), commonly known as the Hida (also spelled Chida, the acronym of his name, ), was a Jerusalem born rabbinical scholar, a noted bibliophile, and a pioneer in the publication o ...

, known as the CHIDA. In his book ''Shem HaGedolim'', the CHIDA states he "got to meet the Rabbi in his old age in the holy city of Hebron, enjoying the radiance of his light..." Rabbi Alfandari was the first to sign the CHIDA's documents affirming him as an emissary to represent the Jewish community in foreign lands. The CHIDA lists him as one of the sages buried in the ancient Jewish cemetery in Hebron. Today, his name on the list is displayed on a plaque at the cemetery, although his exact grave site location was lost during the Jordanian period.

Works

He was the author of two works: * ''Yad Aharon'' (''Aaron's Hand''), a collection of notes on ''

Ṭur ''Arba'ah Turim'' (), often called simply the ''Tur'', is an important Halakha#Codes of Jewish law, Halakhic code composed by Yaakov ben Asher (Cologne, 1270 – Toledo, Spain c. 1340, also referred to as ''Ba'al Ha-Turim''). The four-part stru ...

Oraḥ Ḥayyim'' (the first part of which was published in

in 1735, and the second in

Salonica Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

in 1791) and on ''

Eben ha-'Ezer'' (Smyrna, 1756–66) * ''Mirkebet ha-Mishneh'' (''The Second Chariot''), a treatise on the first part of

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

' ''Yad ha-ḤazaḲah.'' He died in

Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...

in 1774. His grandson, Isaac Ardit, wrote a eulogy on him in his ''YeḲar ha-'Erek,'' Salonica, 1836.

References

* Its bibliography: * Azulai, ''Shem ha-Gedolim,'' s.v.; * Michael, Heimann Joseph, (1891) ''Or ha-Ḥayyim'', Frankfort-on-the-Main (in Hebrew), No. 302; *

Joseph Zedner Joseph Zedner (10 February 1804 – 10 October 1871) was a German Jewish bibliographer and librarian. After completing his education, he acted as teacher in the Jewish school in Strelitz (Mecklenburg), where the lexicographer Daniel Sanders w ...

, ''Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus.'' p. 40. 18th-century rabbis from the Ottoman Empire Sephardi rabbis from Ottoman Palestine Smyrniote Jews 1700s births 1774 deaths Rabbis in Hebron {{Turkey-rabbi-stub

Works

See also

References