MEYUḤAS, RAPHAEL MEYUḤAS BEN SAMUEL

MEYUḤAS, RAPHAEL MEYUḤAS BEN SAMUEL (1695?–1771), chief rabbi (rishon le-Zion) of *Jerusalem. Meyuḥas was born in Jerusalem and studied in the yeshivah Bet Ya'akov, which he subsequently headed. In 1723 when the troubles of the Jewish community of Jerusalem were aggravated because of the harsh rule of its governor, Yussuf Pasha, Raphael was sent by Abraham *Yiẓḥaki, the rishon le-Zion, to Constantinople to plead for the governor's removal. Meyuḥas served as avbet din in Jerusalem, his colleagues including Isaac Zerahiah *Azulai and, much later, his son Ḥ.J.D. *Azulai. In 1756 on the death of Israel Jacob *Algazi, he was appointed rishon le-Zion. In one of his rulings Raphael endeavored to bring about a rapprochement between the *Karaites and the Rabbanites, permitting the Karaites to send their children to the talmud torah. Tradition has it, however, that Raphael later recanted his ruling. He was the author of Minḥat Bikkurim (Salonika, 1752) on the Talmud; Peri ha-Adamah in 4 parts (ibid., 1752–57 (64?)), novellae on *Maimonides' Mishneh Torah with responsa – appended to the fourth part are homilies called Penei ha-Adamah; Mizbaḥ Adamah (ibid., 1777) on the Shulḥan Arukh. Raphael was the brother of Abraham b. Samuel *Meyuḥas and the father of Moses Joseph Mordecai *Meyuḥas.

bibliography:

Frumkin-Rivlin, 3 (1929), 85–90; S. Assaf, Be-Oholei Ya'akov (1943), 203; Yaari, Sheluḥei, index, s.v.Meyuḥas Meyuḥas; M. Benayahu, Rabbi Ḥayyim Yosef David Azulai (Heb., 1959), index; idem (ed.), Sefer ha-Ḥida (1959), 28–31.

[Abraham David]