GAGIN, SHALOM MOSES BEN ?AYYIM ABRAHAM

GAGIN, SHALOM MOSES BEN ?AYYIM ABRAHAM (d. 1883), talmudist and emissary of Ere? Israel. He was the son of ?ayyim Abraham *Gagin, from whom he inherited a large library, of which *Frumkin made use in his Toledot ?akhmei Yerushalayim. Shalom was a member of the kabbalist circle of scholars at the yeshivah "Bet El" in Jerusalem. From 1862–65, as an emissary of Jerusalem, he visited Tripoli and Algeria, as well as Tunis, where he influenced Caid Nissim Shamama to bequeath a large sum of money to Ere? Israel. In 1870, on a second mission, Shalom spent some time in Rome. He died in Jerusalem.

His works, most of whose titles include the word Sama? (from the initials of his name), include (1) Yisma? Lev, responsa, pt. 1 (1878), pt. 2 (1888); (2) Yisma? Moshe (1878), rulings relevant to the testament of Nissim Shamama; (3) Sama? Libbi (1884), homilies; (4) Saviv ha-Ohel pt. 1 (1886), pt. 2 (1904), on the tent of meeting, consisting of additions to Yeri'otha-Ohel, the commentary of ?ayyim Abraham Gagin (Agan) on the Ohel Mo'ed of Samuel b. Meshullam *Gerondi; (5)Sama? Nefesh (1903), on the laws of blessings. Shalom also arranged the publication of Sha'ar ha-Pesukim (1863) of ?ayyim Vital, and ?ayyim mi-Yrushalayim (1888), a collection of his father's sermons. Some of his poems were published in Devar Adonai mi-Yrushalayim (1873) of Aaron b. Isaac Pereira.

bibliography:

M.D. Gaon, Yehudei ha-Mizra? be-Ere? Yisrael, 2 (1938), 188; Yaari, Shelu?ei, 738f.; Frumkin-Rivlin, 1 (1929), 60, 66 (introduction); 3 (1929), 121, 277, 312.

[Simon Marcus]