Obj. ID: 35953
Jewish printed books  Eliyahu Mizrachi by Eliyahu Ben Avraham Mizrachi, Fürth, 1763

This text was prepared by William Gross:

Super-commentary to the commentary of Rashi on Torah by the rabbinical authority and perhaps greatest of the rabbis of the Ottoman Empire of his time. R. Mizrahi was of Romaniot origin (the original Turkish Jews as distinct from the Spanish exiles) and was born and educated in Constantinople. Among his teachers he mentions R. Elijah ha-Levi in rabbinic studies and Mordecai Comitiano in general studies. Until the death of R. Moses Capsali, R. Mizrahi devoted himself to study and public instruction. As early as 1475 he is mentioned as heading a keneset (probably a school in addition to a synagogue) and as having students. After the death of R. Capsali in 1498 R. Mizrahi became the foremost rabbinical authority in Constantinople and in fact throughout the whole Ottoman Empire. From far and near, problems of halakhah and procedure were addressed to him. There is reason to believe that he filled the position of head of the rabbis of Constantinople (though he did not have the title of hakham bashi, appointed by the sultan, since that office did not exist at that period). Nevertheless, it would seem that his authority derived not from any official position, but from the recognition of his personality and strength. He was considered both by his contemporaries and later generations as the greatest posek of his time in Turkey. He was firm and unbending in his decisions, and even the great rabbis among the Spanish exiles accepted his authority.
Contains a copy of the first Hebrew map of Eretz Israel, first published in 1527.
The city of Furth, a center of talmudic learning, established its first Hebrew presses in 1691. During the 1760's, when this volume was printed, the production of talmudic, rabbinic and juridicial books in Furth reached its peak and the town became famous as one of the European centers of Hebrew printing.