Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph (Hebrew: גדליה אבן יחיא בן יוסף; c. 1515 – 1587) was a 16th-century Italian Talmudist chiefly known for his chronology of the Bible, The Chain of Oral Tradition (Hebrew: שלשלת הקבלה, romanized: Shalsheleṯ haqabbālā).[1]

Biography

Born in Imola, Italy, the son of Joseph ibn Yahya ben Solomon and Abigail. In his early years he studied in Ferrara, later settling down in Rovigo, where he remained until 1562 when the burning of the Talmud took place in Italy. Following this he briefly lived in Salonica, moving back to Imola in 1567. He was later expelled with other Jews by Pope Pius V, and suffering a loss of 10,000 gold pieces, he went to Pesaro, and thence to Ferrara, where he remained till 1575. During the ensuing eight years he led a wandering life, and finally settled in Alexandria, which perhaps is where he died in 1587. Another theory "indicates that Gedaliah did not die in Alexandria, Egypt, but in Alessandria, a town sixty to seventy miles northwest of Genoa, Italy, along the road to Turin."[2]

Ibn Yayha's chief work was the Chain of Oral Tradition, also called the Book of Yahya (Sefer Yahya),[3] which he labored on for more than forty years. This work is not without defects, having suffered either because of the author's itinerant mode of life or through faulty copying of the original manuscript. Its contents are as follows:[4]

  • History and genealogy of the Jews from the time of Moses until that of Moses Norzi (1587)
  • Account of the heavenly bodies, Creation, the soul, magic, and evil spirits
  • History of the peoples among which the Jews have dwelt, and a description of the unhappy fate of the author's coreligionists up to his time.

The Chain of Oral Tradition was published at Venice, 1587; Cracow, 1596; Amsterdam, 1697; Zolkiev, 1802, 1804; Polonnoye, 1814; and Lemberg, 1862.

Gedaliah was the alleged author of twenty-one other works, which he enumerates at the end of his Chain and which are mentioned also in Isaac ben Jacob Benjacob's Oṣar ha-Sefarim.

References

  1. ↑ David, Abraham (21 May 2021). "The Historian R. Gedalya Ibn Yahya". Poetic Mind. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  2. ↑ Menton, Arthur F. (18 January 2021). "The Book of Destiny – Toledot Charlap – Chapter XXVI". Poetic Mind.
  3. ↑ Menton, Arthur F. (4 March 2021). "King David Dynasty: the Charlap family ascension". 89B. Gedaliah ben Yosef lbn Yahya; b. 1515; d. 1587, Alexandria, Egypt, or Alessandria, Italy; m. twice; resident of Italy, Salonika, and Alexandria; scholar (secular & religious), historian, writer, author of Shalshelet ha-Kabbalah. Father of seven children: a son by his first wife, and by his second wife, Yosef (d. ca 1610), Yehuda (b. ca 1540), Moshe (d. ca 1615), Shlomo (d. ca 1620), David (d. ca 1625), and Chana (d. ca 1625). Gedaliah had many grandchildren whose names are not known. Several of his descendants lived in Italy and there is a Yahya presence in that country to this day. The children of his son Yehuda are known.
  4. ↑ "YAḤYA - JewishEncyclopedia.com". www.jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
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