28 Kislev · Yahrzeit
Yahrzeit/Hillula of Rabbi Chizkiya De Silva – the "Pri Chadash"
Rabbi Chizkiya bar David De Silva, the "Pri Chadash" was born in 1659 in Livorno, Tuscany.
Yahrzeit - 28 Kislev
Resting place - Har HaZeitim, Jerusalem
Around 1679, at the age of 20, De Silva left his hometown for Jerusalem, then in Ottoman Syria (Damascus Eyalet), where for ten years he attended the yeshiva of Rabbi Moshe Galante. In 1689 Galante passed away, and De Silva succeeded him as Rosh Yeshiva. He was sent to Europe to raise funds for Jerusalem.
In 1691, while De Silva was in Amsterdam, he was offered the position of Sephardic rabbi of the city, which he declined. Instead, he began printing his work "Pri Chadash" (פרי חדש), a commentary on Yoreh De'ah. Wealthy Amsterdam Jews offered to fund its publication. "Pri Chadash" was published in 1691 and was immediately recognized by European Torah scholars as a monumental contribution to halacha. De Silva remained in Amsterdam for a year.
On his way back to Israel he visited Egypt, where Torah scholars were outraged that in his works he had referred to earlier scholars in what they considered a disrespectful manner.
"A brazen challenge to the authority of the Shulchan Aruch as the official codification and final arbiter of Jewish law."
The freedom with which De Silva discussed halachic issues led the rabbis of Cairo to place a ban on his "Pri Chadash."
After returning to Jerusalem, he founded the Beit Yaakov Yeshiva. De Silva had secured the ongoing support of the Dutch philanthropist Yisrael Yaakov Pereira while in Amsterdam, and in Pereira's honor the yeshiva was renamed Beit Yaakov Pereira. De Silva took a keen interest in the dispute between Moshe Chagiz and Yehuda Vega. However, his death in Jerusalem in 1698 at the age of 39 cut short his involvement on the former's behalf. He was buried at the foot of the Mount of Olives.
Soon after his death, the ban placed on the book "Pri Chadash" was lifted — ironically, by his closest disciple, Rabbi Shlomo Al-Gazi, who was appointed Chief Rabbi of Egypt and decided all questions guided by the halachic rulings brought in "Pri Chadash."
In later generations, Rabbi De Silva's book became one of the most authoritative halachic sources — studied in every community.
Rabbeinu Chida said that "all the sages of Israel drink eagerly from the words of this book."
May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael!
(https://www.hyomi.org.il/eng/page.asp?id=666)