Navon, Jonah ben Hanun

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NAVON, JONAH BEN HANUN

NAVON, JONAH BEN HANUN (1713?–1760), rabbi and author. Navon was born in Jerusalem where his father was a rabbi. He studied in the bet ha-midrash Bet Ya'akov Pereira under Israel Meir Mizraḥi. In 1746 he headed the bet ha-midrash Keneset Yisrael, founded by Ḥayyim ibn *Attar, and when the yeshivah Gedulat Mordekhai was established Navon was appointed to head it, and was at the same time one of the heads of the Yefa'er Anavim yeshivah. Among his pupils was Ḥ.J.D. *Azulai, who was the son of his brother-in-law. He traveled as an emissary of Jerusalem to North Africa in 1737, and again to Turkey and Greece during 1746–48. He was the author of responsa Neḥpah ba-Kesef (2 parts, Constantinople, 1748; Jerusalem, 1843), to which was added his supercommentary on Elijah *Mizraḥi's commentary to the Sefer Mitzvot Gadol (Semag) of Moses of *Coucy; Get Mekushar (Leghorn, 1785), novellae and comments on the Get Pashut of Moses ibn *Ḥabib. His other works have remained in manuscript. His sons were Ephraim, Benjamin, and Mordecai.

bibliography:

Frumkin-Rivlin, 3 (1929), 20–22; Yaari, Sheluḥei, 306–7; M. Benayahu, Ha-Ḥida (1959), 333–5.

[Abraham David]