(Shem HaGedolim. Part II)

AZULAI, CHAIM JOSEPH DAVID (CHID”A)

v.p

1754-58

Autograph Hebrew Manuscript, written by Azulai in Sephardi cursive script, with emendations by him. Two columns, black ink on laid paper

During his travels as a Shadar, the Chid"a visited Europe's most outstanding libraries and compiled voluminous bibliographical notes, which were "published in four booklets, comprising two sections, under the titles ‘Shem HaGedolim’ (The Name of the Great Ones), containing the names of authors; and ‘Va’ad LaChachamim’ (Assembly of the Wise), containing the titles of works...Isaac Ben-Ya'akov, in 1852, published the work, systematically arranged, with copious cross-references. This treatise has established for Azulai a lasting place in Jewish literature. It contains data that might otherwise have been lost.” (JE vol. II, p. 376). The Shem Hagedolim is regarded as the most important compendium of Hebrew bio-bibliographical literature. The verso of the flyleaf of the present manuscript (written in a different Sephardic hand) entitles this work as “Ginat Beitan, Chelek MiShem HaGedolim”. It contains over 400 numbered entries of both scholars and books in alphabetical order. Although these entries were incorporated in the published text, even a cursory comparison between the two, indicate many differing readings and the loss of certain entries entirely. For example, in the entry for R. Isaiah Halevi Horowitz (Shela”h HaKadosh) our manuscript contains a lengthy paragraph stating that the root of the soul of the Shela"h is from the seminal emission of the Biblical Boaz, the night of his encounter with Ruth (f.12a, no. 27). The standard editions of the Shem HaGedolim contain only a truncated version of this highly original comment - leaving out the essence of the Chida's interpretation. The present manuscript forms a substantial portion of the second part of Shem HaGedolim. The manuscript of Part I is found in the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York. The manuscript offered here is not mentioned in Benayahu’s census of the Chida's manuscripts (pp. 479-84), and is probably the only Chid"a manuscript remaining in private hands. The few other surviving autograph manuscripts are located in the British Museum, JNUL and the JTS