Bidspirit auction | Signature of the holy genius

Signature of the holy genius Rabbi Moshe Hagiz! - The renowned Torah scholar Moshe Hagiz was born in Jerusalem in 1672, son of Rabbi Ya’akov Hagiz, author of Halachot Ketanot. After his father died, in his childhood, he was raised in the home of his illustrious grandfather, Rabbi Moshe Galanti “HaRav HaMagen”. Was a disciple of the leading Sephardi sages of Jerusalem and of his celebrated brother-in-law Rabbi Moshe Ibn Chaviv In 1794, his grandfather, Rabbi Moshe Galanti, who was the head of the rabbis of Jerusalem, died and the Maharam Hagiz was sent as an emissary on behalf of the Jews of Eretz Israel to Egypt and elsewhere in the diaspora. His exile lasted 40 years during which he travelled throughout Europe and resided in Livorno, Venice, Amsterdam, London, Emden and Hamburg. In the course of those years, he became used to writing in Ashkenazi script [primarily due to the printing of his books in Amsterdam and in Ashkenazi countries and to his correspondence with European rabbis]. He was involved in rabbinical issues and many important rabbis valued his opinion in Halachic and public matters. He is known for his unswerving opposition to the Shabtai follower Nechemya Hayun from Amsterdam in conjunction with the Chacham Zvi and the Ya’avetz which later forced him to move from Amsterdam to London and then to Germany, where he remained for over 20 years. In the framework of this struggle, in 1814, he printed various polemic pamphlets in Amsterdam, London and Berlin: Igeret HaKna’ot, Edut L’Yisrael, Milchama L’Hashem, Shever Poshim, etc. He authored many books on Halacha, mussar and Kabbalah. In 1704, he began to print his book Leket HaKemach on the Shulchan Aruch in Venice and the complete edition in Amsterdam in 1707. Other books: Ele HaMitzvot on the 613 mitzvot (Amsterdam, 1797 and a revised edition in Wandsbek, 1727), Leket HaKemach on the Mishnah (Wandsbek, 1726), Tzror HaChaim, mussar and prayers (Wandsbek, 1728), Mishnat Chachamim on Pirkei Avot (Wandsbek, 1733), Shtei HaLechem responsa (Wandsbek, 1733), etc. His teachings also appear in many books in which he printed the Torah novellae of his father, grandfathers and teachers, adding his own additions, glosses and introductions, signed “The Meniach said”. Some of the books he printed with his additions are Or Kadmon, Korban Chagiga by his grandfather Maharam Galanti, Halachot Ketanot responsa of his father, Mahari Hagiz, printed in Venice in 1703-1704, Zevach Shelamim by his grandfather Maharam Galanti, Ha’Idrot HaKedoshot, Sefer Kritot, Orach Mishor by his father the Mahari Hagiz, printed in Amsterdam 1708-1709, and many other books which he edited or for which he wrote an introduction [see article by M. Benayahu: Books written by R’ Moshe Hagiz and books he published, Elei Sefer, Vol. 2, 1976, pp. 154-160]. In 1738, he returned to Eretz Israel and resided in Tzidon and in Safed. Reports regarding the year of his death and his gravesite contradict each other. The Chida in Shem HaGedolim writes that he arrived in Tzidon in 1738 and died in Safed in 1760, near the age of 90. (See: Shem HaGedolim, Ma’arechet Gedolim, Ot 40, 123). According to a different version, he died around 1750. According to the opinion of Luntz (Yerushalayim, Year 1, 1882, pp. 119-120), he left Safed for Beirut to recover from an illness, died there and was buried in Tzidon.