Auction 9
Lot 424:
Sefer Arba Turim with Beit Yosef on the Choshen Mishpat, on the over is the signature of Yitzhak Elfanderi, under it is that of his son. Throughout the book are hundreds of glosses and marginal notes on halacha. All seem to be from these two geonim of Kushta. Rabbi Yitzhak Elfanderi, a forefather of the Elfanderi family, student of Rabbi Yosef Matrani (Maharit), mentioned in HaHida’s book Shem HaGedolim. His friend the Gaon Rabbi Haim Benvenisti, the Knesset Gedola, writes about him that “I see the specialness of his complete wisdom on every issue.” Rabbi Haim Elgazi and Rabbi Moshe Benvenisti also described in with flowing praise, that “his voice would rise with great strength, like a hammer striking and blowing up mountains.” He died around 1650. His son, Rabbi Haim Elfanderi (the second) son of Rabbi Yitzhak, like his father, a sage of Kushta, known as the “Esh Dat.” The pages of the book are in very bad condition, and moths have heavily damaged them, but many glosses have been preserved entirely. There are chopped glosses. Important material such as this requires professional restoration and treatment. This discovery can be defined as “having been snatched from the fire.”
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