He
was born in Jerusalem where his father was a leading rabbi. His
first work, written when he was 15, showed that many Jewish scholars
had made mistakes in matters of bibliography and chronology. At the
age of 29, he was sent as an emissary (shaliah) to raise money for
the Jerusalem community. He made a deep impression in Italy,
especially in Ancona and Leghorn (Livorno).
He
used his travels to unearth ancient Jewish books and documents and
was the first Jewish scholar to examine the great collections of
Jewish books in French and Italian libraries. He was rabbi of Cairo
for four years, returned to Eretz Israel, settling in Hebron, then
went to Europe as an emissary of the Hebron community and spent the
last 38 years of his life in Leghorn.
Azulai was the author of 83 books on a wide variety of Judaic
subjects; best known is his "Shem ha-Gedolim" with biographies of
1,300 scholars and a description of 2,200 books.
Bibliography:
Hayyim Joseph David AZULAI:
Sefer Otzrot HaHIDA. 3 Vols. in 1. Jerusalem: Or Torat
HaHIDA, 1976 (in Hebrew)
Hayyim Joseph David AZULAI:
Sefer Igrot HaHIDA. [Jerusalem?]: (photo ed. of) Livorno,
1867 (in Hebrew)
Hayyim Joseph David AZULAI:
Sefer Shem ha-Gedolim. 2 vols. in 1. [Jerusalem?]: (Photo
ed. of) Warsaw: Goldman, 1876 (in Hebrew)
Hayyim Joseph David AZULAI:
The diaries of Rabbi Ha’im Yosef David Azulai: (‘Ma’agal tov’ -
The good journey). Translated and annotated by Benjamin
Cymerman. 2 Vols. in 1. Jerusalem: Bnei
Issakhar Institute, 1997
