Ḥayyim ben Shabbethai (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: רבי חיים בן שבתי), commonly known by the acronym Maharhash (Hebrew: מהרח"ש, MArenu HA-Rav ḤAyyim SHabbethai, literally translating to "Our teacher, the Rabbi Hayyim Shabbethai"; 1557 - 1647) was a

Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

and

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ist, who is considered to be one of the great sages of Greek Jewry, serving as the

Chief Rabbi Chief Rabbi () is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a capitulation by Ben-Zion Meir ...

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

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Early life

Born in Thessaloniki, , his father Rabbi Shabbethai may have been a minor community leader. In his early years he studied under Rabbi Aaron Sason, Rabbi Joseph Escapa, Rabbi Shlomo HaCohen and Rabbi Samuel de Medina. At the age of thirty seven, he subsequently became the Rosh Yeshivah of the "Shalom" community. Thousands of students came to his Yeshiva from surrounding Balkan communities and he had several illustrious pupils such as; Yehoshua Khandali, and David Conforte. In 1607 he succeeded Samuel Florentine as the Chief Rabbi of Thessaloniki.

Rabbinic position

During his time as the Chief Rabbi of Thessaloniki, Shabbethai exemplified himself as a leading '' halakhic'' authority of his time. His tenure was defined not only by excellent local leadership but also by an extensive relationship to other diasporic communities, (notably the Sephardic Jews of

Dutch Brazil Dutch Brazil (; ), also known as New Holland (), was a colony of the Dutch Republic in the northeastern portion of modern-day Brazil, controlled from 1630 to 1654 during Dutch colonization of the Americas. The main cities of the colony were the c ...

, headed by Moses Raphael de Aguilar and

Isaac Aboab da Fonseca Isaac Aboab da Fonseca (or Isaak Aboab Foonseca) (February 1, 1605 – April 4, 1693) was a rabbi, scholar, kabbalist, and religious writer. In 1656, he was one of several elders within the Portuguese-Jewish community in Amsterdam and for a time ...

). In fact one of the three volumes of his

responsa ''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars i ...

''Sefer Torat Hayyim'' relates to a question asked by the Jews of Brazil, regarding whether they should pray for rain, due to the reversal of seasons south of the equator. This ultimately ended up being the first recorded responsa of the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

. In addition, he had close relationships with the communities of

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and

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, who would often approach Shabbethai for ''halakhic'' direction. He devoted himself assiduously to congregational matters, introducing many important ''halakhic'' regulations, which are relevant to this day.

Works

Some of his most famous works are as follows: * Sefer Torat Ḥayyim (ספר תורת חיים) - widely considered his

Magnum Opus A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

, published in 1713, 1715, 1722 in Thessaloniki. A three volume responsa (שאלות ותשובות), mostly on

Shulchan Aruch The ''Shulhan Arukh'' ( ),, often called "the Code of Jewish Law", is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Rabbinic Judaism. It was authored in the city of Safed in what is now Israel by Joseph Karo in 1563 and published in ...

Even Ha'ezer ( "The Stone of Help" or "The Rock of the ") is a section of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation of halakha (Jewish law), ''Arba'ah Turim''. This section treats aspects of Jewish law related to marriage, divorce, and sexual conduct. Later, Rabb ...

, Choshen Mishpat and laws relating to agunot as well as several other different topics. * Torat ha-Zevaaḥ (תורת הזבח) - on the laws of kosher ritual animal slaughter and inspection. * Moda'ah ve-Ones (מודעה ואונס) - published in 1628 in Thessaloniki, and once again in 1798 in

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, with commentaries of Jeremiah Mattersdorf and his son Joab. On laws regarding contracts entered into under duress. He also wrote several commentaries on the talmudic tractate '' Ta'anit'' as well as others, which were printed in "Sefer Torat Moshe" written by his son Mosses Shabbethai.

References

{{Authority control 1550s births 1647 deaths Rabbis from Thessaloniki Jewish Greek history 17th-century rabbis from the Ottoman Empire