IMPORTANT SIGNATURES OF MOROCCAN RABBIS ON THE BOOK OHELEI YEHUDA Yasnitz . 1719 .

IMPORTANT SIGNATURES OF MOROCCAN RABBIS ON THE BOOK OHELEI YEHUDA Yasnitz . 1719 .
Signature of the Great Gaon Rabbi Yehuda Rosanes – Head of Constantinople Rabbinical Court, Author of ‘Mishneh

LeMelech’ – on the Book Beit Halevy: Venice, 1666

Signature of the one of the greatest rabbis of Turkey of that era, the illustrious Gaon Rabbi Yehuda Rosanes, author

of the famous book ‘Mishneh LeMelech’ on Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah.

Hagaon author of Mishneh LeMelech

‘Happy are you Abraham our father that Rabbi Yehuda Rosanes descended from you’ – So writes Ohr Hachayim

HaKadosh about the author of Mishneh LeMelech )Pri To’ar, Section 21, Sub-section 123) and somewhere else in

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that book (Section 94, subsection 113), he wrote: My lips can but praise the sage and gaon and pure one of soul, one

in a generation, the holy rabbi full of the wisdom of the Torah, close to G-d – our teacher and rebbe, Rabbi Yehuda

Rosanes of blessed memory, who we heard was afraid to print his pure teachings, lest someone might misunderstand

his sayings – as if he was criticizing the rabbis of his time – and he be perceived as deceptive.

The effusive praise showered on the head of the author of Mishneh LeMelech have no parallel in rabbinical literature,

and in view of the tremendous admiration for him, he was accorded an extraordinary nickname among the Sefardi

rabbis, who called him ‘the Rabbi Tanna” or the Rabbi ‘Tanna de-Orayta’.

And this is what the Chida said of him (in ‘Shem Ha-Gedolim’, manuscript, New York) ‘...and in view of his greatness,

they call him “Tanna”, and wherever you find his greatness and knowledge in the deepest parts of the Talmud, the

Rishonim and Acharonim and the integrity and verity of his deep study, you will find his humility... and we heard

how he would bar himself from passing judgment and would always refrain from making halachic decisions. And

anyone who saw Rabbi Yehuda enwrapped in Torah study along with the rabbis and students of his illustrious Torah

academy, could see that it was a model of the Talmud academy of the Rishonim and Baalei HaTosefot, where every

question would be clarified by merit of their deep knowledge and wisdom by true and penetrating intellectual study;

and however much we can learn about him from his writings, this is but a fraction of his virtues, with the wondrous

things that came forth from his mouth – happy is he and happy is his lot. He had other writings, but they fell into

foreign hands. I also heard that after his decease, in his study, they found a book on kabbalah that he would study in

total secrecy, such that no one knew about it in his lifetime...’

The book Mishneh Lemelech stimulated a revolution in Torah literature on the Ramba”m, and when it was published,

all were astounded by it. When the Chatam Sofer came to praise the book of Mahari”t Algazi, he writes: “Not a single

work on this level has come to light since the time the Mishneh LeMelech was written to date.” His technique of

investigation, raising doubts, discussion, cases for and against and in-depth study served as a model for many other

books of this kind.

Book description: Beit Halevy Novella and Discussions on Hilchot Migo by Rabbi Yaakov Halevy Horowitz, descendant

of the Shla”h, Venice 1666, only edition. 120 [4] 18 cm. pages, in antique leather binding, in very good condition.

In the book’s leaves are two short handwritten references. There is another signature on the title page and at the

end of the book – David son of Rabbi Chayyim Rosanes – one of Constantinople’s rabbis. An introduction from it was

printed in Sefer Charedim (Constantinople, 1757). On the inner side of the binding are notes about dreams in the

handwriting of the period.