Meyuchas

The Meyuchas (Meyuhas) are a Jerusalem Sephardi family that has produced notable rabbis and merchants for hundreds of years. They trace their ancestry to Spain before the Alhambra Decree.^[1]

Modern settlement on the site of the City of David began in 1873-74 when the Meyuchas family moved a short distance outside the city walls to a newly built house on the ridge.^[2]

Raphael Meyuchas ben Samuel (1695?-1771) was born in Jerusalem and was the brother of Abraham ben Samuel Meyuchas and the father of Moses Joseph Mordechai Meyuchas. Served as Rishon l'Zion from 1756 until his death in 1771. He is known to have attempted to bring about some kind of reconciliation with the Karaites and to have admitted Karaite children to the Jewish school. He was the author of ‘Minchat Bikkurim (Salonika, 1752) a commentary on the Talmud, and of Peri ha-Adamah, (four parts, Salonika 1752-57,) a commentary on the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides. ^{[3] [4]}

Abraham ben Samuel Meyuchas (died 1767) Born in Jerusalem. Author of a commentary on the Torah, Sedeh ha-Eretz (three parts, Salonika, 1784,1789, Leghorn (Livorno) 1788,) of Diglo Ahavah, a commentary on the Derech Etz ha-Chaim of Isaac Luria . ^[3]

Moses Joseph Mordechai Meyuchas (1738-1805) born in Jerusalem. Served as Rishon l’Zion from 1802-1805. He is the author of Sha’ar ha-Mayim (Salonika, 1768,) Berachot Mayim (Salonika, 1789,) and Mayin Shaal (Salonika 1799.) ^{[3] [5]}

References

1. ^ The Sephardi Aristocracy in Jerusalem - 500 Years after the Expulsion from Spain, 16 Jul 1998, Ministry of Foreigh Affairs, [1]
2. ^ Yemin Moshe: The Story of a Jerusalem Neighborhood, Eliezer David Jaffe, Praeger, 1988, p. 51
3. ^ ^{a b c} Encyclopedia Judaica, 1972
4. ^ Where Heaven Touches Earth, by Dovid Rossoff , 1998, p. 122 ff.
5. ^ History of Zionism, 1600-1918, by Nahum Sokolow , 1919, p. 77