Hezekiah da Silva

Who was Hezekiah da Silva?

Hezekiah da Silva was a Jewish author born at Livorno, Italy, son-in-law of the dayan Mordecai Befael Malachi. About 1679 he left his native city for Jerusalem, Palestine, where he attended the yeshibah of Moses Galante, and ten years later he was sent to Europe to collect funds for Jerusalem. In 1691 he was in Amsterdam and began the printing of his work Peri Hadash, a commentary on the Yoreh De'ah. He remained in that city for a year. Five years later he was again at Jerusalem, his movements in the interim being unknown. He took a decided interest in the controversy of Moses Hagiz against Judah Vega, but his death in Jerusalem in 1698 cut short his activity in behalf of the former.

The freedom with which Silva discussed halakic problems brought the ban of the rabbis of Cairo upon his Peri Ḥadash, but it was afterward removed by Abraham Levi, although the two men, spiritually akin, were personally unacquainted. This work of Silva's was supplemented by a second and a third part, both edited by his son David, and bearing the approbation of the chief authorities of the time.