Bidspirit auction | The Personal Copy of Maran

The Personal Copy of Maran the Chida – Mizbe’ach Adam. Salonika, 1776. Only Edition - Mizbe’ach Adam – Novellae on the Four Sections of the Shulchan Aruch. By Rabbi Raphael Meyuchas ben Rabbi Shmuel, Chief Rabbi (Rish Metta) and Rosh Metivta of the Holy City of Jerusalem. Salonika, 1776. Sole edition. Attributed copy. A rare and important halachic work by Raphael Meyuchas (1701–1771), one of the foremost sages of Jerusalem, who served as Rishon LeZion. He is likewise renowned for his work Pri Ha’adamah on the Rambam. Rabbi Raphael Meyuchas was born in Jerusalem to Rabbi Shmuel of the Meyuchas family, which had settled in the Land of Israel following the Expulsion from Spain. He was a grandson of Rabbi Israel Yaakov Hagiz and a great-grandson of Rabbi Moshe Galanti. Orphaned in childhood, he studied at the Beit Yaakov Yeshivah (Pereira). His lifetime was marked by severe hardship in Jerusalem: communal leadership collapsed amid arrests and flight, a devastating famine struck in 1722, and a tyrannical governor demanded 91,000 grush within 91 days, imprisoning his grandfather, Rabbi Moshe Meyuchas. Rabbi Raphael traveled urgently to Constantinople, where, with the assistance of communal leaders, he succeeded in influencing the authorities to moderate the governor’s demands. He later recorded the many miracles that occurred during this mission in his Megillat Yuchasin, and established the 16th of Adar—the day of his return to Jerusalem—as a personal festival for himself and his descendants, known within the family as the “Purim of the Meyuchas Family.” He served as an emissary (shadar) in Constantinople and Egypt, and after the passing of Rabbi Israel Yaakov Algazi in 1756, was appointed Rishon LeZion, serving until his death. He passed away on 22 Av 1771 and was buried on the Mount of Olives. On the title page appears the autograph signature of Chaim Yosef David Azulai (the Chida), in a rare full signature that includes the name of his father, Rabbi Yitzchak Zerachiah. The Chida knew Rabbi Meyuchas well and cited him numerous times in his writings. In his first printed work, Sha’ar Yosef (1757), appears an approbation signed by Rabbi Meyuchas together with the rabbis of Jerusalem. Rabbi Meyuchas headed the Beit Yaakov study hall and served as Av Beit Din of Jerusalem. Among those who served alongside him on the rabbinical court was Rabbi Yitzchak Zerachiah Azulai—father of the Chida—and later the Chida himself joined the court. The Chida frequently records Rabbi Meyuchas’s rulings in his works, and in Shem HaGedolim (entry under “Mem”) he lists Mizbe’ach Adam among his compositions. Upon Rabbi Meyuchas’s passing, the Chida—then residing in Hebron—eulogized him with the words: “A voice of lamentation is heard from Zion… great shall be the mourning in Jerusalem over the taking of the Ark of God, the head of the city and head of the academy, the Rishon LeZion…” There is little doubt that when this book later reached the Chida in Livorno, he received it with great joy and inscribed within it his full signature, mentioning his father who had likewise known the author well. [2], 65 leaves. 29 cm. Bound with: Gur Aryeh, Amsterdam, 1733. First edition. Homiletic discourses on the Torah and selected Talmudic and Midrashic passages by Rabbi Judah Aryeh ben David, Av Beit Din and Rosh Metivta of Amsterdam, together with Bedek HaBayit, novellae and halachic discussions by Rabbi Avraham Chaim Shor. [2], 28, [2], 8 leaves. Very fine condition. Minor worming. Simple binding.