Richietti, Joseph Shallit ben Eliezer
RICHIETTI, JOSEPH SHALLIT BEN ELIEZER
RICHIETTI, JOSEPH SHALLIT BEN ELIEZER (17th century), rabbi and emissary of the Holy Land. Richietti apparently came from Mantua and settled in Safed some time after 1659. From 1674 to 1676 he was an emissary of Safed in Italy. Moses *Zacuto welcomed him with great honor upon his arrival in Mantua in 1674. He was a Shabbatean of Zacuto's circle. During his mission he published his ?okhmat ha-Mishkan (Mantua, 1676) on the erection of the Tabernacle, at the end of which he republished the Iggeret Mesapperet Ya?asuta de-?addikei de-Ara de-Yisrael ("A genealogical table of the righteous men of Ere? Israel"). In the introduction to the work he speaks of having drawn up a map of Ere? Israel. He appears also to have spent some time in Verona. According to documents of the Mantua community, he lent a sum of money to the community during a time of need. He possessed important manuscripts, among them a copy of the *Midrash ha-Gadol, and was the first European scholar to make use of it.
bibliography:
Yaari, Shelu?ei, 39, 57, 81, 84, 414; S. Simonsohn, Toledot ha-Yehudim be-Dukkasut Mantovah, 2 (1964), 291–2; I. Tishby, Netivei Emunah u-Minut (1964), 81–83.
[Abraham David]