Shaki, Isaac

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SHAKI, ISAAC

SHAKI, ISAAC (1852–1940), Turkish rabbi. Born in a village near *Istanbul, he was a student of R. Solomon Kimḥi. Shaki first became a merchant, and it was not until middle age that he devoted himself to Torah study and research. He was av bet din and a member of the bet din ha-gadol in Istanbul, writing several books in Ladino in order to provide the masses of the people with religious literature in a language with which they were familiar.

His main work was Historia Universal Judia (1898–1927), a 16-volume survey of Jewish history. Other works by Shaki were Millei de Avot ("Words of the Fathers," in Ladino Tresoro del Judaismo) 3 pts. (1907–08), an extensive commentary on *Avot, and Binah le-Ittim (1897), dealing with the Jewish calendar. Some of his works are extant in manuscript.

bibliography:

A. Galante, Histoire des Juifs d'Istanbul, 1 (1941), 148.

[Abraham Haim]