(ChID”A). Sha'ar Yoseph [commentary to Talmudic Tractate Horayoth]

AZULAI, CHAIM JOSEPH DAVID.

Anton Santini

Livorno

1756

FIRST EDITION. With dedications in Spanish (floriated initial) and Portuguese. Includes responsa

Vinograd, Livorno 72; M. Benayahu, Rabbi H.Y.D. Azulai (1959), p. 185, no. 1; E. Toaff, Guardians of Our Heritage (1958) p.155

THE CHIDA'S FIRST PUBLISHED WORK. Although he was 34 when Sha'ar Yoseph was published, it was written when the author was just seventeen years of age. According to Benayahu (p. 186), Sha'ar Yoseph was scarce even during the author's lifetime. Both the lengthy approbation by the author's father, Raphael Isaac Zerahyah Azulai, as well as the introduction, contain valuable biographical details. The peripatetic nature of the author (who was a shada"r or rabbinic emissary dispatched to collect funds on behalf of the Jews of Eretz Israel) is reflected in the haskamoth, provided from sages located in Jerusalem, Hebron, Egypt, Livorno, Amsterdam, and Algiers. An incomparable bibliophile, Ch.J.D. Azulai made use in his writings of many rabbinic manuscripts that have since become lost