Tephilah LeMoshe [sermons and homilies on the merits of Torah plus a commentary on Kri'ath Shema]

ALMOSNINO, MOSES.

Joseph Ya’avetz

Salonika

1563

FIRST EDITION. Previous owners signatures, marginal notes, lengthy at times

Vinograd, Salonika 63; Mehlman 900

Born in Salonika, Moses ben Baruch Almosnino (c. 1515-c. 1580) hailed from a distinguished Jewish family originally from the Spanish town of Aragon. He was renowned for his knowledge of rabbinical matters and for his scholarship in the sciences, particularly natural physics and astronomy. In 1565, he formed a delegation to petition Sultan Selim II for a confirmation of the privileges previously granted to the Salonika Jews in 1537. His efforts procured a favorable decision and in 1568 the Salonika community was granted the status of a self-governing entity, a prerogative it enjoyed for centuries thereafter. See EJ, II cols. 669-71