Manuscript Leaf, Halachic Responsum Handwritten and Signed by Rabbi Moshe Ibn Chaviv - Jerusalem, Second Half of ...

Manuscript Leaf, Halachic Responsum Handwritten and Signed by Rabbi Moshe Ibn Chaviv - Jerusalem, Second Half of the 16th Century
Manuscript leaf, a Halachic responsum, handwritten and signed by R. Moshe ibn Chaviv, author of "Get Pashut". [Jerusalem, second half of the 16th century].
Single leaf, handwritten on both sides. Autographic writing of the author, R. Moshe ibn Chaviv, with deletions and emendations. The responsum concerns the explanation of a Tosafot in Tractate Rosh Hashanah. This leaf contains the second half of the responsum, signed at the end: "So it seems to me, the young Moshe ibn Chaviv". This responsum was printed in Kol Gadol (Jerusalem, 1907, section 84; reprinted in Responsa Maharam Chaviv, Chochmat Shlomo edition, section 274).
R. Moshe ibn Chaviv [Habib] (1654-1696) was the "Rishon LeTzion" and rabbi of Jerusalem, and one of the greatest Torah scholars of his generation. He authored "Shemot BaAretz VeKapot Temarim", "Get Pashut" and other works. The Chida pronounced him "the greatest of his generation", "the great illuminator of his generation" and other honorific titles. The Pnei Yehoshua (Ketubot 14a, Kuntres Acharon, section 46) titled him "the greatest of the late masters of Torah (Acharonim)". R. Moshe was born in Salonika to a prominent family of Spanish exiles (descendants of R. Yaakov ibn Chaviv, author of "Ein Yaakov", and his son R. Levi ibn Chaviv, the Maharalbach). As a teenager he travelled to Eretz Israel, to study in Jerusalem at the yeshiva of R. Yaakov Chagiz. Soon he became renowned as one of the best students, and despite his youth, the great scholars of the yeshiva such as R. Chizkia da Silva, author of "Pri Chadash", R. Shlomo Algazi, R. Moshe Galante and others, would include him in their Torah debates. At around the age of fifteen he married the daughter of the Rosh Yeshiva, R. Yaakov Chagiz, and upon her passing, he remarried the daughter of R. Yonatan Galante, a sister of R. Moshe Galante ("HaRav HaMagen"). Upon the passing of R. Moshe Galante, R. Moshe ibn Chaviv succeeded him as "Rishon LeTzion" and rabbi of Jerusalem, a position which he held until his untimely passing seven years later. He left a large number of manuscripts, from them the following compositions were printed posthumously: "Get Pashut", "Ezrat Nashim" and "Shemot BaAretz" (the latter comprises "Yom Teruah" on Tractate Rosh Hashanah, "Tosefet Yom HaKippurim" on Tractate Yoma, and "Kapot Temarim" on Tractate Sukka). The works "Get Pashut" and "Ezrat Nashim" have become basic texts in Jewish law, while "Shemot BaAretz" is accepted as an important commentary to the aforementioned tractates. In fact, the Pnei Yehoshua writes that he abridged his own work due to the existence of Shemot BaAretz, and R. Akiva Eiger authored annotations to this work. In more recent years, further works of R. Moshe ibn Chaviv have been published, including responsa, sermons and his commentary to the Jerusalem Talmud.
[1] leaf, written on both sides. Approx. 20 cm. Fair condition. Stains and dampstains, wear and large tears to the margins.