Menahem ben Moshe Bavli (Bavli meaning from Mesopotamia), also known as Menahem Ben Moshe ha-Bavli, (died 1571) was a Jewish rabbi and author of the 1571 book ''Ta'amei Ha-Misvot'' ("The Reasons For The Precepts").

Life

Although many details about his life are unknown, different stories say he was originally from

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 ...

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

until moving to a variety of places. In 1522 and 1525, he was a dayan in Trikkala, Ottoman Greece until moving to

Erez Erez ( he, אֶרֶז, ) is a kibbutz in southwestern Israel. Located just north of the Gaza Strip, it is the namesake of the nearby Erez Crossing. The kibbutz was founded in 1949 and moved to its current location in 1950, where it was buil ...

and also

Safed Safed (known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as Tzfat; Sephardi Hebrew, Sephardic Hebrew & Modern Hebrew: צְפַת ''Tsfat'', Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation, Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Tzfas'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Ṣǝp̄aṯ''; ar, صفد, ''Ṣafad''), i ...

, both in the

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Isra ...

(

Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and south ...

at the time), where his father and brother, Reuben, accompanied him, where they worked in wool dyeing. Menahem was also a correspondent of Joseph ben Ephraim Karo. Menahem was considered one of the town's best scholars and published ''Maran le-Even ha-Ezer'' in which he insinuated being a student of Jacob Beran. He visited Egypt until returning to Safed and eventually going to Hebron in 1540, where was one of a group of important

Sephardic Jew Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...

ish scholars living there in the 16th century, after acquiring land from the Karaites. Russian-Hebrew poet David Vogel used one of Menachem' works after Vogel visited

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

References

External links

Taamei haMitzvos (Reasons for Commandments) by Menahem Ben Moshe HaBavli Recanati
Writers from Baghdad Rabbis in Hebron Rabbis in Ottoman Galilee 16th-century rabbis from the Ottoman Empire Year of birth missing 1571 deaths {{Jewish-bio-stub