Viterbo, Jehiel Ḥayyim

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VITERBO, JEHIEL ḤAYYIM

VITERBO, JEHIEL ḤAYYIM (c. 1766–c. 1842), a rabbi of Ancona, scholar, and poet. Among his poems is a eulogy of 26 stanzas on the death of Ḥayyim Joseph David *Azulai in which he alludes to the 31 works of the latter.

He published two volumes of sermons in Leghorn, Yiḥyu Dagan, for Sabbaths and festivals (1830), and Va-Yeḥi Od, which includes a commentary on Pirkei Avot and responsa (1839). After his death, Va-Yeḥi va-Yitten (1843) appeared. Viterbo was in close contact with the yishuv in Ereẓ Israel. Many of his letters and poems remained in manuscript and are in the archives of the Budapest rabbinical seminary.

bibliography:

A.N.Z. Roth, in: M. Benayahu, Sefer ha-Ḥida (1959), 64–67; C. Roth, in: Sinai, 21 (1947), 326.