- Joseph Escapa
Joseph Escapa (c. 1572-1662) served in the rabbinate of
Smyrna . He was probably born atUskup , EuropeanTurkey , after which place he is named.At first
rabbi andchief of the yeshivah atSalonica , he later filled the same offices at Smyrna, where at the beginning he shared the rabbinate withJoshua Ashkenazi Azariah . When differences of opinion arose between them in regard to matters of ritual, they appealed to the rabbis of Salonica for arbitration. After his colleague's death, Escapa remained sole rabbi of Smyrna until the end of his life.David Conforte says he saw Escapa when the latter was about one hundred years old.Escapa was especially known for having been the teacher of
Shabbetai Tzvi and for having afterwardexcommunicated him. Escapa wrote an important work called "Rosh Yosef", a detailed commentary and "novellæ" on the "Arbah Turim" of RabbiJacob ben Asher . Part one, which has been published, contains a portion of the "Ṭur Oraḥ Ḥayyim" (Smyrna, 1658); part two, on "Ḥoshen Mishpaṭ", has been published up to ch. 76 (Smyrna, 1659). He also wrote "responsa "; some were published under the title of "Teshubot Rosh Yosef" (Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 1709).Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
*
Azulai , "Shem ha-Gedolim", i.76;
*David Conforte , "Kore ha-Dorot", ed. Cassel, p. 46a, Berlin, 1846;
*Moritz Steinschneider , "Jewish Literature", p. 216;
*idem, "Cat. Bodl." col. 1458;
*Joseph Zedner , "Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus." p. 350;
*Heinrich Grätz , "Gesch." 3d ed., x.187, 190.References
*JewishEncyclopedia
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