Ḥiyya Rofe

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ḤIYYA ROFE

ḤIYYA ROFE (1550?–1618), rabbi of *Safed. Ḥiyya was born in Safed and studied in Solomon *Sagis' yeshivah there, where he distinguished himself already in his youth. Ḥayyim *Vital instructed him in *Kabbalah and he was ordained by Jacob *Berabii before 1599. He reestablished the yeshivah of *Tiberias in 1587 and headed it for a number of years. However, between 1590 and 1593 he again lived in Safed where he was regarded as one of its outstanding scholars. In 1607 he was living in *Jerusalem, but in about 1612 returned to Safed where he died. His opinions are quoted by contemporaries. Most of Ḥiyya's works have been lost. The little that has remained, novellae to various tractates of the Talmud and 27 responsa, were published by his son *Meir b. Ḥiyya Rofe, a *Hebron scholar, in the collection Ma'aseh Ḥiyya (Venice, 1652). It is a valuable source for the method of talmudic study employed by the scholars of Safed as well as for the quotations from many manuscripts of the Talmud which the author kept in the yeshivah of Safed.

bibliography:

Benayahu, in: Aresheth, 2 (1960), 109–29; idem, in: Sefer Yovel le-Yiẓḥak Baer (1960), 257–63.