Asael, Ḥayyim ben Benjamin

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ASAEL, ḤAYYIM BEN BENJAMIN

ASAEL, ḤAYYIM BEN BENJAMIN (1650–c. 1707), rabbi in Salonika and later an emissary from Jerusalem. Ḥayyim taught at the yeshivah of Solomon *Amarillo, the foremost house of study in Salonika, and also served as preacher to the Ashkenazi congregation in the city. After his father's death, in 1690, he moved to Jerusalem, where he remained for some years teaching at the yeshivah of "Pereyra" until his appointment as emissary to Turkey in 1704. He died in Smyrna. Ḥayyim wrote the Sam Ḥayyei, incorporating responsa given during the course of his travels and sermons. This work was published by his son, Benjamin Asael (Salonika, 1746). His responsa are also quoted elsewhere.

bibliography:

Frumkin-Rivlin, 2 (1928), 164; Rosarnes, Togarmah, 4 (1935), 347; Yaari, Sheluḥei, 115, 352–3, 486, 888.

[Simon Marcus]