GEDALIAH, (Don) JUDAH

GEDALIAH, (Don) JUDAH (d. c. 1526), Hebrew printer. Gedaliah, who was born in Lisbon, worked there at Eliezer toledano 's Hebrew press (1489–95) until the expulsion from Portugal (1497). He settled in Salonika, establishing the first Hebrew printing press there using fine type fonts he had brought from Lisbon. Between 1515 and 1535 he, his daughter, and his sons (who continued the firm after his death) carefully edited and printed about 30 Hebrew books including the first edition of Ein Ya'akov of R. Jacob ibn Ḥabib (1516–22). The latter, in his introduction, highly praised Gedaliah for his efforts in spreading the knowledge of Torah among the other Iberian refugees in Salonika. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Freimann, in: ZHB, 11 (1907), 52–53; J. Bloch, Early Hebrew Printing in Spain and Portugal (1938), 34–54; H.D. Friedberg, Toledot ha-Defus ha-Ivri bi-Medinot Italyah… (1956), 130ff. (Jacob Hirsch Haberman) GEDALIAH, JUDAH BEN MOSES GEDALIAH, JUDAH BEN MOSES (16th century), scholar in Salonika. Nothing is known of his life, but his important works remain. They are Masoret Talmud Yerushalmi, indexes of parallels to the Jerusalem Talmud (Constantinople, 1573); notes on the Midrash Rabbah and the Five Scrolls (Salonika, 1593/94). In this latter work Gedaliah reveals a sound critical aptitude and extensive philological knowledge. He explains most of the difficulties found in the Midrash, and is extensively quoted by later commentators. His notes on the Zohar Ḥadash (Salonika, 1596/97) also reveal his critical insight. In the Bodleian Library there are preserved a few volumes of the Bomberg edition of the Babylonian Talmud with his notes in manuscript. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Michael, Or, no. 980; Fuenn, Keneset, 393; Steinschneider, Cat Bod, no. 1326. (Itzhak Alfassi)