Malachi ben Jacob ha-Kohen (also known as the Yad Malachi) Montefoscoli (1695/1700? – 1772) was a renowned

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

ist,

methodologist In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...

, and one of the greatest Kabbalists of the 18th century. He was a student of the famous kabbalist Rabbi Joseph Ergas, author of the original kabbalistic text known as ''Shomer Emunim''. Born in Livorno sometime between 1695 and 1700, he passed on in the year 1772 and is considered the last of the great rabbinical authorities of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Praised effusively by his contemporaries and quoted frequently by major

halakhic ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

authorities of the 18th and 19th centuries, he served as Rabbi of

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

, Italy, and apparently lived to an old age. A decision by him, dated Nisan, 1732, and referring to a civil case at Rome, is included in the responsa of Rabbi Isaiah Bassani of Reggio (''Todat Shelamim'', No. 11, 1741). During the controversy between Jonathan Eybeschutz and Jacob Emden he sided with the former (letter of the rabbinate of Leghorn in "Luḥot 'Edut," p. 22). He is most famous for his ''Yad Mal'aki'' (1766-7), a methodological work and compilation in three parts: part one contains an alphabetical list of all the rules and technical terms found in the

, with explanations; part two deals with rules regarding the codifiers; part three deals with the rules relating to legal decisions, explaining certain general principles of legal

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 ...

. Malachi wrote also a liturgical work, ''Shibḥe Todah'' (1744), containing prayers for the 22d of Shebaṭ, a fast-day instituted by the community of Leghorn. In addition to these, Malachi also wrote a ''Sefer Torah'' in his own hand which then became an authoritative reference for many details regarding the correct formation of various Hebrew letters.

Yad Malachi

His major work, the 'Yad Malachi', first printed in Livorno (1766), and later Berlin (1857), was praised by his contemporaries as well as halakhic authorities of later generations. Rabbi Yitzchak Shmelkes wrote that: "Every reader of this book will be amazed by the way this living lion, the high priest.....dives in the mighty waters, the sea of the Talmud. No secret is hidden from him", while Rabbi

Chaim Joseph David Azulai Haim Yosef David Azulai ben Yitzhak Zerachia (1724 – 1 March 1806) (), commonly known as the Hida (the acronym of his name, ), was a Jerusalem born rabbinical scholar, a noted bibliophile, and a pioneer in the publication of Jewish religious ...

(the 'Chida') wrote: "And after much time, the sun shone upon the land.... with the precious book 'Yad Malachi', and as the eyes of servants to the hand of their masters, I have raised my eyes and seen..." Azulai, ''Ayin Zocher'' sec.7 The 'Yad Malachi' was printed again in the late 20th century, and a new edition with greatly improved fonts, format, and biographical detail was printed in Israel in 2001. In 2016,

Machon Yerushalayim Machon (Ancient Greek: Μάχων, fl. 3rd century BC) was a playwright of the New Comedy. He was born in Corinth or Sicyon, and lived in Alexandria. It is said that he taught the grammarian Aristophanes of Byzantium. Two fragments from two of h ...

published a critical edition with new typesetting and annotations cross-referencing parallel discussions in other "Klalim" works and highlighting discussions of the author's writing in later works. A third volume containing the author's commentary on the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

, responsa, and poetry, was published in 2018.

Bibliography

'Benjamin Brown, "Some Say This , Some Say That": Pragmatics and Discourse Markers in Yad Malachi's Interpretation Rules'
* Azulai, ''Shem ha-Gedolim,'' i.63; *

Moritz Steinschneider Moritz Steinschneider (30 March 1816, Prostějov, Moravia, Austrian Empire – 24 January 1907, Berlin) was a Moravian bibliographer and Orientalist. He received his early instruction in Hebrew from his father, Jacob Steinschneider ( 1782; ...

, ''Cat. Bodl.'' col. 1644.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Malachi Ben Jacob 17th-century births 1772 deaths 18th-century Italian rabbis Italian Orthodox rabbis Kabbalists Kohanim writers of Rabbinic literature Livornese Jews Year of birth uncertain