MALKHI, MOSES

MALKHI, MOSES (b. Ezra?; mid-18th century), emissary of Safed, Malkhi had the distinction of being the first emissary of Ereẓ Israel to visit the New World. He was in New York in the summer of 1759 for four and a half months, and it is assumed that he remained there at the request of the members of the Sephardi community "Shearith Israel" who had no rabbi, in order to arrange their religious affairs. In the account book of that community it states that they gave the emissary 18 pounds sterling for 18 week's accommodation and for provisions and traveling expenses to Newport, Rhode Island, which was then the wealthiest Jewish community in America. There he met the Christian theologian ezra stiles who was greatly interested in the emissary from Ereẓ Israel. Stiles relates that Malkhi was born and brought up in Safed, and he sent a letter in Latin through him to one of the heads of the Greek Church in Ereẓ Israel requesting exact information on the geography of the country and its inhabitants which he needed for his research on the ten tribes . This Malkhi must be distinguished from his namesake, Moses (b. Raphael Mordecai Malkhi) . He may have been the son of ezra malkhi . -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Yaari, Sheluḥei, 446; D. de Sola Pool, in: Brandeis Avukah Annual (1932), 356–7; G.A. Kohut, Ezra Stiles and the Jews (1902). (Avraham Yaari) MALKHI, MOSES BEN RAPHAEL MORDECAI MALKHI, MOSES BEN RAPHAEL MORDECAI (d. 1747), head of the Safed community in the first half of the 18th century. Moses was a brother of ezra malkhi . He was head of the Jewish community of Safed for many years, and as such his signature appears first on the letters of appointment of various Safed emissaries. Malkhi was one of the intermediaries between Sheikh Zāhir al-Omar and Ḥayyim Abulafia for the renewal of the Jewish community in Tiberias in 1740. He died in Acre and was buried in Kafr-Yasīf. In the letter of the community of Safed reestablishing the Jewish community of Kafr-Yasīf written in Elul of that year, the tomb of "the distinguished rabbi Moses Malkhi of blessed memory" and that of Moses Ḥayyim Luzzato, who died that year in the plague in Acre and was buried in Kafr-Yasīf, are listed together with those of tannaim and amoraim. It may be conjectured that Malkhi also died in that plague during a visit to Acre in connection with the affairs of the Safed community. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Yaari, Sheluḥei, 431, 432, 437, 438, 501, 850. (Avraham Yaari)