Rabinos Sefardíes: Rabbi Hayim haCohen (1585-1655) and the pirates who stole his books

Ver todos los artículos de esta sección

Rabbi Hayim haCohen (1585-1655) and the pirates who stole his books

Rabbi Hayim haCohen was born in Egypt in 1585. His father Ribbi Abraham haCohen belonged to a distinguished family of Cohanim, descendants of Don Yosef haCohen, of Spain.

From his childhood it was clear that he had a remarkable talent. Not only for his tremendous love for the study of Tora but also for his elevated human qualities. It is said that as a child, while his classmates spent their free time playing, Hayim went to the synagogue to study Tora  and learn how to serve God.

In his adolescence when people gathered in the synagogue during Shabbat he would go up to the pulpit and give sermons about the weekly section of the Tora; the laws pertaining to the approaching festivals and lessons of musar (Jewish ethics) that attracted the heart of his listeners.

Later, Rabbi Hayim HaCohen moved to the city of Tsefat (Safed) in Israel. There he studied with Rabbi Hayim Vital (see THIS) for about three years.

From Safed the rabbi Hayim haCohen moved to the city of Aram Tsoba (Aleppo, Syria) where he settled permanently. There he was elected as rabbi of the community to replace the late Rabbi Mordekhai haCohen, son-in-law of the famous Rabbi Shemuel Laniado, ba’al hakelim.

When Rabbi Hayim haCohen began to serve as Rabbi of the community, the study of the Tora flourished even more in Aleppo. New schools (ketab) and rabbinic academies (bate midrashot) were opened and more benches were added in the synagogue.

Rabbi Hayim haCohen served the community of Aleppo as rabbi and head of the rabbinic court for decades.

His knowledge was so great that he received inquiries on very difficult rabbinical subjects from the distant communities of the world.

Finally, he decided to organize all his writings and publish his books, especially his commentaries on the Shulhan Arukh, the code of law that had been written by his teacher’s teacher, Rabbi Yosef Caro.

In addition to his commentary on the Shulhan Arukh, Rabbi HaCohen had composed many other books. Among them, a commentary on the Song of Songs (Shir haShirim); a commentary on the book of Ekha(Lamentations) a book on Rut; a commentary on Daniel and many more books, all in manuscripts.  Up until the sixteenth century, books were copied by hand, but with the invention of the printer that had changed.  However, publishing books in Aleppo or the Middle East was impossible, because the printing press had not yet arrived there. The only possibility was to print the books in Europe. And the best printers were in Venice, Italy, the city where half of Europe’s books were published in the sixteenth century. It was in Venice where the first edition of the Talmud and the first edition of the Shulhan Arukh were printed.

Rabbi HaCohen sent his commentary on the book of Esther to Venice. But time passed and the book did not come to light. Rabbi Cohen then decided to travel to Venice and personally take care of printing his book. Together with his son they traveled by sea carrying with them all the manuscripts of the Rabbi (probably, no less than 20 manuscripts). But their ship was attacked by pirates from the island of Malta. The pirates boarded the ship to steal the cargo and kill the passengers, or kidnap them and sell them as slaves. Rabbi HaCohen and his son jumped into the sea and miraculously managed to save their lives. But the books were left on the ship …

The Rabbi prayed to God and asked for His help to recover his invaluable books, or to help him to rewrite them from memory. God granted him the second request. Rabbi HaCohen spent several years in Italy rewriting his precious lost books.

The first book that Rabbi HaCohen was able to print, with the help of Rabbi Moshe Zacuto, is called “Tora Hakham” (The Teaching of the Sage). This book is a collection of the Rabbi’s sermons on the weekly sections of the Tora. The book came to light in Venice, 1654.

The next book that Rabbi HaCohen printed with the assistance of Rabbi Shemuel Abohab was “Meqor Hayim” (The Source of Life). This book is a commentary on the Shulhan Arukh, consisting on various volumes. The first part was published  in Venice, also in 1654.

To print the second volume of this book “Pitda” (see illustration above) the Rabbi traveled to Livorno, Italy.   It was in this city, Livorno, that rabbi Cohen passed away in Perashat Qedoshim of 1655.

After the death of rabbi HaCohen, some of the books that had left on the ship hijacked by the pirates were found. The famous Hida, Rabbi Yosef Hayim David Azulay, in his book of chronicles Shem haGuedolim affirms that he held in his hands the manuscript of Ateret Zahab, a commentary on the book of Esther, written by the hand of Rabbi Hayim haCohen.

Another of his books, Migdal David, a commentary on Megillat Rut, was also found. This book was printed in Amsterdam in 1680 by an impostor who falsely claimed authorship for Rabbi Hayim haCohen’s book.

Recently other manuscripts written by Rabbi haCohen were found. Talmudic commentaries (agadot) of the treatise Berakhot were recently published in the monthly Israeli publication qobets bet aharon veIsrael, 1983.

Some books and commentaries of the rab haCohen still remain in manuscripts, hoping, some day, to be published.

Click HERE to download the book Torat Hakham

Fuente: halaja.org