Handali, Joshua ben Joseph

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HANDALI, JOSHUA BEN JOSEPH

HANDALI, JOSHUA BEN JOSEPH (17th century), Turkish rabbi. Handali was born in Skopje in Yugoslavia. In his youth he moved to Salonika, where he studied under Ḥayyim Shabbetai. His first work, written in 1613, was a pamphlet on the laws pertaining to gifts from a groom to his bride (sivlonot). He was recognized as a halakhic authority and various Balkan communities turned to him with their problems. In 1621 he moved to Safed, where he was one of the pioneers of the Jewish resettlement. He later settled in Jerusalem where he is mentioned as being involved in the Shabbetai Ẓevi controversy. Toward the end of his life he interested himself in Kabbalah. Some of his responsa are included in his Penei Yehoshu'a (included in the collection Me'orot ha-Gedolim, Constantinople, 1739), and others in the Benei Aharon by Aaron Lapapa (Smyrna, 1674).

bibliography:

Frumkin-Rivlin, 2 (1928), 32.

[Simon Marcus]