ZAHALON, JACOB

Jacob Tzahalon (Rome 1630-Ferrara 1693) was a well-known physician, preacher and Talmudist. His is famous for his medical encyclopedia, Otzar Ha’hokhemoth of which one volume was published under the title Otzar Ha’hayyim (Venice 1683). His manual for preacher's, Or Ha’darshanim is one of the few works of this kind in Hebrew literature. His role as physician and rabbi during a devestating plague in Rome is described in detail in his work, and his halakhic decisions are included in Isaac Lamperonti's Talmudic encyclopedia, Pachad Yitzhak. Tzahalon was the first Jewish author of medical books who wrote in Hebrew His medical work covered all areas of medicine, including mental disease. He was also concerned with the ethical dimension of the medical profession, and composed a "Physician's Prayer." The Medical Aphorisms of Hippocrates are short rules concerning medical practice by the father of classical Greek medicine, Hippocrates. It was one of the most popular medical works in the Middle Ages. Maimonides wrote a commentary on it in Judeo-Arabic, and modelled his own Medical Aphorisms after it. Maimonides composed his Medical Aphorisms in Judeo-Arabic. During the Middle Ages it was translated into Hebrew twice and was known under the title Pirkei Moshe. Tzahalon used a Latin version and created a new Hebrew translation. Aphorisms is the most voluminous of the medical writings of Maimonides. In its 25 chapters Maimonides includes medical knowledge drawn from the works of Hippocrates, Galen and many famous Arabic physicians. For a detailed exposition of Maimonides’ medical writings, see: Fred Rosner, The Medical Aphorisms of Moses Maimonides, (Haifa 1989). These works by Tzahalon, under the title Or Ha’rofim, were completely unknown until now. Although it is stated in his Otzar ha-hayyim that it contained parts that could not be printed because of lack of funds (Venice 1683, last page), the nature of the unpublished parts or their title is not mentioned there. This newly discovered work, a translation and commentary of Hippocrates and Maimonides by Tzahalon, deserves to be studied for the insights it may offer into the history of medicine among the Jews as well as for the Hebrew medical terminology used in it. Kestenbaum & Company thanks Dr. Menachem Schmeltzer for his help in cataloguing this Lot.