MEYUḤAS ():

By: M. Seligsohn, M. Franco, Joseph Jacobs

Oriental Jewish family which gave several rabbinical writers to Jerusalem and Constantinople.

Abraham ben Samuel Meyuḥas:

Rabbi in Turkey in the eighteenth century; author of "Sedeh ha-Areẓ," in three parts, the first two being homilies on the Pentateuch (Salonica, 1784-98) and the third containing responsa on the four parts of the Shulḥan 'Aruk, collectanea, and Talmudic annotations (Leghorn, 1788). In the preface Meyuḥas asserts that he wrote the following commentaries: "Digle Ahabah," on Isaac Luria's "Derek 'Eẓ ha-Ḥayyim"; "Ha-Ma'or ha-Ḳaṭon," on Ḥayyim Vital's "'Eẓ Ḥayyim"; "Siaḥ ha-Sadeh," on Isaac Luria's "Sefer ha-Kawwanot." Fürst ("Bibl. Jud." ii. 347) ascribes to this Meyuḥas the work entitled "Bene Abraham," responsa and homilies, and "Ḳonṭres," containing the laws of Giṭṭin (Constantinople, 1773); the responsa and homilies, however, are those of Abraham ben Judah Meyuḥas; while the "Ḳonṭres" was written by Nathan Meyuḥas.

M. Sel.Moses Mordecai Joseph Meyuḥas:

Son of Raphael Meyuḥas ben Samuel; born 1738; died 1806. He succeeded Yom-Ṭob al-Ghazi as chief rabbi of Jerusalem (1801-6). In 1799, on the approach of Bonaparte's army, which already had taken Jaffa, Meyuḥas assembled the Jews of Jerusalem and delivered a patriotic speech, after which he seized a pickax and commenced to dig a trench, his coreligionists immediately following his example. He was the author of three Hebrew works: "Sha'ar ha-Mayim," notes on the Shulḥan 'Aruk, and responsa (Salonica, 1768); "Birkot ha-Mayim," novellæ, religious laws, and responsa (ib. 1789); "Mayim Sha'al," on the same subjects as the "Sha'ar ha-Mayim" (ib. 1799).

M. Fr.Raphael ben Samuel Meyuḥas:

Chief rabbi of Jerusalem and head of the yeshibah there; flourished about the middle of the eighteenth century. He was the author of the following works, all published at Salonica: "Minḥat Bikkurim," halakic and haggadic novellæ on several treatises of the Talmud (1752); "Peri ha-Adamah," novellæ on the four divisions of Maimonides' "Yad" (1752); "Pene ha-Adamah," homilies on the "parashiyyot" of the Pentateuch (1752); "Mizbaḥ Adamah," novellæ on the four parts of the Shulḥan 'Aruk (1777).

M. Sel.Samuel Ḥayyim Meyuḥas:

Chief rabbi of Constantinople from 1836 to 1839; died some years after the latter date. He was the author of a volume of responsa entitled "Shemen ha-Mishḥah" (Constantinople, 1840).

J. M. Fr.