Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World

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Mizraḥi, Elijah ben Abraham
(462 words)

Elijah ben Abraham Mizraḥi (d. before 1527), generally known by the Hebrew acronym Reʾem,  was one of the greatest rabbis of the Romaniot community of Istanbul. Born there around the middle of the fifteenth century, he headed a yeshiva and apparently figured as the leader of the city’s rabbinical community. Modern scholarship tends to dismiss the claim that he was formally styled chief rabbi ( haham başı ), however, although this was assumed in the past. Aside from being an adjudicator (Heb. poseq) of Jewish law, Mizraḥi possessed broad general knowledge on numerous subjects,…

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Yaron Ben Naeh, “Mizraḥi, Elijah ben Abraham”, in: Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, Executive Editor Norman A. Stillman. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_SIM_0015500>
First published online: 2010



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