ALḤAYK, UZZIEL BEN MORDECAI

ALḤAYK, UZZIEL BEN MORDECAI (1740?–1820?), Tunisian rabbi. Alḥayk was born in Tunis where his father was a dayyan and communal leader. He studied in the yeshivah of Nathan b. Abraham bordjel , the greatest scholar of Tunis, and under David b. Moses Najar. He was appointed rabbi of the Portuguese community in Tunis. Most of his rulings deal with financial problems and testify to his great juristic ability. Alḥayk was very familiar with business and economic problems, and it is possible that he himself engaged in business. His responsa are an important source for the history of the Jews of Tunis of his time. He became friendly with Ḥayyim Joseph David Azulai during the visit of the latter to Tunis in 1774. He collected the takkanot of Tunis which he published in his Mishkenot ha-Ro'im (102a ff.; Leghorn, 1860), his most important work, comprising alphabetically arranged articles on the Shulḥan Arukh. It deals primarily with civil law and, to a lesser extent, with laws of marriage. Many of the articles consist of his own responsa and rulings. He wrote Ḥayyim va-Ḥesed (Leghorn, 1865), sermons delivered between 1767 and 1810, including eulogies on Tunisian sages and other contemporaries. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Cazès, Notes bibliographiques sur la littérature juive tunisienne (1893), 169–73.