DAVID GERSON:

By: Louis Ginzberg, Isaac Broydé

Rabbi at Reshid, Egypt; flourished in the middle of the seventeenth century. He was a contemporary of Mordecai ben Judah ha-Levi, author of "Darke No'am," in which are given some of Gerson's responsa. He is also mentioned as a great rabbinical authority by Abraham ben Mordecai ha-Levi, author of "Ginnat Weradim" and "Gan ha-Melek," who was his pupil. Moses Ḥagiz, in his "Leḳeṭ ha-Ḳemaḥ" on Oraḥ Ḥayyim, attributes to David Gerson the discontinuance of the practise of lighting a pipe from a tallow candle, which according to some authorities is forbidden, as the use of tallow (=) is prohibited in the Pentateuch. David Gerson gave as a reason a dream which he once had of being punished as though he had eaten fat because he used to light his pipe from tallow candles.

L. G.I. Br.