Halakha and responsa, heading a yeshiva
His responsa tie halakha to the life of the community: alongside prohibition and permission, betrothal and divorce, they deal with communal ordinances, the customs of communities, the apportioning of the tax burden, commercial matters and the status of the conversos and their descendants. The Responsa of the Maharashdam is among the books of rulings on which the sages of the East relied, and it also serves as an important historical source for the life of the Jews of Salonica.
One of the leading halakhic authorities of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, born in Salonica, where he served as a judge and head of a yeshiva. He was a disciple of Rabbi Yosef Taitazak and Rabbi Levi ben Chaviv and the teacher of Rabbi Avraham de Boton, author of the Lechem Mishneh. Halakhic questions reached him from many communities, and about a thousand of his responsa were printed in the Responsa of the Maharashdam, and his sermons in the book Ben Shmuel.
The writings of Samuel de Medina can be read on Sefaria, a free library of Jewish texts. A title opens the text itself.
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includes 3 inspiration linksThe generations follow the Rambam’s introduction to the Mishneh Torah. A dashed line is inspiration, not direct transmission.