Al?ayk, Uzziel ben Mordecai
AL?AYK, UZZIEL BEN MORDECAI
AL?AYK, UZZIEL BEN MORDECAI (1740?–1820?), Tunisian rabbi. Al?ayk was born in Tunis where his father was a dayyan and communal leader. He studied in the yeshivah of Nathan b. Abraham *Bordjel, the greatest scholar of Tunis, and under David b. Moses Najar. He was appointed rabbi of the Portuguese community in Tunis. Most of his rulings deal with financial problems and testify to his great juristic ability. Al?ayk was very familiar with business and economic problems, and it is possible that he himself engaged in business. His responsa are an important source for the history of the Jews of Tunis of his time. He became friendly with ?ayyim Joseph David *Azulai during the visit of the latter to Tunis in 1774. He collected the takkanot of Tunis which he published in his Mishkenot ha-Ro'im (102a ff.; Leghorn, 1860), his most important work, comprising alphabetically arranged articles on the Shul?an Arukh. It deals primarily with civil law and, to a lesser extent, with laws of marriage. Many of the articles consist of his own responsa and rulings. He wrote ?ayyim va-?esed (Leghorn, 1865), sermons delivered between 1767 and 1810, including eulogies on Tunisian sages and other contemporaries.
bibliography:
E. Cazès, Notes bibliographiques sur la littérature juive tunisienne (1893), 169–73.