Pinkas Shada”r [Emissary’s Ledger]. Autograph record of a heretofore unknown mission

AZULAI, CHAIM JOSEPH DAVID (CHID”A).

1794-96, and on...

Hebrew and Judeo-Español (Ladino). Sephardic cursive script. Besides the entries in the hand of Azulai, there are additions by a traveling companion of the Rabbi (ff. 3r., 14r.). Of great historic interest are later entries from the years 1808-9, in the hand of an unidentified Jerusalem financier who came into possession of the Pinkas (ff.18r.-23r.). These Jerusalem entries may provide insight into the financial conditions of Jerusalem’s Sephardic community in that period

OPENING A NEW PAGE IN THE BIOGRAPHY OF RABBI CH.J.D. AZULAI. Rabbi Chaim Joseph David Azulai (1724-1806), known by the acronym Chid”a, was without doubt, one of the greatest of Sephardic luminaries, who excelled equally in the diverse realms of Halacha, Kabbalah, and bibliography. A native of Hebron, Azulai studied at different times under R. Chaim ibn Attar (Ohr ha-Chayim ha-Kadosh), R. Jonah Navon and R. Shalom Sharabi (Rasha”sh). Conditions in Eretz Israel being financially precarious, Azulai undertook in 1753 his first mission to the Diaspora on behalf of the Yishuv, a mission which lasted five years. In 1772, he again traveled abroad, this time for six years. At the conclusion of this “shelichuth,” Azulai set up residence in Livorno, Italy, where he remained for the remainder of his life. Azulai recorded his impressions of his second mission in his book Ma’agal Tov [“Good Circuit”]. Elio Toaff wrote: “His book is perhaps the most important document on the life of the Hebrew communities of Egypt, Italy, Germany, Holland, France, Turkey and Tunis of the 17th century, and a precious and lively chronicle of facts, events, and the peculiarities of these people…” E. Toaff, Hayyim Joseph David Azulai, in Jung ed., Guardians of Our Heritage (1958), p.156. The present Pinkas fills a major gap in our knowledge concerning the life and times of Azulai. Starting very early in his career, Azulai was a meticulous diarist. However, it soon became apparent to researchers that his diaries for the years 1792-7 were missing. Thus, our Pinkas Shadar can serve to partially fill that vacuum, at least for the years 1794-6. (However, see Rosenberg, p. 391 concerning two lists of sources of income and expenditures, one for the years 1781-1802, the other for the years 1795-1803.) See also M. Benayahu, Rabbi H.Y.D. Azulai (1959), pp. 238-9; H. Rosenberg, “Unpublished Works of Hayyim Joseph David Azulai,“ in: Kiryath Sepher, V (1929), pp. 142-162, 255-262, 388-395; EJ, Vol. III, cols.1019-20. The startling discovery that emerges from our Pinkas is that in the years 1794-5, Azulai, by that time a septuagenarian, undertook one more journey - to Eretz Israel, on the way collecting funds, and it may be assumed, distributing his published works. By piecing together the various entries, one is able to track Azulai’s return itinerary: Jerusalem, Jaffa, Rashid (Rosetta), Alexandria, Rhodes, Izmir, Constantinople (f.9r.). The Pinkas ends on a most touching note. The great Rabbi records the names of individuals upon whose behalf prayers are to be recited: “Note - to make a ‘Mi she-beirach’ for Sr. Manzana for three years on Yom Kippur in the city of Hebron and pray for him in Jerusalem, that the Lord should grant him success in all his ways and spare him all pain and suffering. May he merit to ascend to Eretz Israel and be buried there by the righteous, Amen.” Or, “Note - to make a ‘Mi she-beirach’ for Sr. Aaron Mendes for two years. May the Lord bless him, Amen.” An earlier Pinkas Shadar of Azulai from the years 1753-8 and 1778 was sold by Kestenbaum & Company, Sale 28, Lot 312. Prof. Shlomo Zucker of the Jewish National & University Library, Jerusalem, assisted in preparing this entry. A transcript of this Pinkas is available upon request.