Amarillo, Aaron ben Solomon

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AMARILLO, AARON BEN SOLOMON

AMARILLO, AARON BEN SOLOMON (1700–1772), halakhic authority and kabbalist. Amarillo was born and spent his whole life in Salonika. He studied under David Serero, one of the great Salonikan halakhic authorities of his day. On the death of Isaac b. Shangi in 1761, he was appointed one of the three chief rabbis of Salonika (as his father had been before him), serving together with R. Benvenisti Gatigno and R. Eliezer Raphael Naḥmias. His responsa Penei Aharon (1796) were published by his son Moses. Some of his responsa were published in the Ashdot ha-Pisgah of Joseph Naḥmuli (Salonika, 1790). He edited Kohelet Ben David (Salonika, 1749) of David Ḥazzan, appending to it a eulogy and elegies on the death of his brother Ḥayyim Moses. During a severe economic crisis in 1756, he proposed a moratorium on all debts. This was adopted by the community and led to an improvement in the economic situation.

bibliography:

D.A. Pipano, Shalshelet Rabbanei Saloniki ve-Rabbanei Sofia (1925); I.S. Emmanuel, Maẓẓevot Saloniki, 2 (1968), nos. 1603, 1604.