Dr. Yohanan Kapach

Rabbi Yosef Hayon was one of the greatest rabbis of Portugal in the generation before the expulsion from Spain. Among his students were Rabbi David ben Rabbi Shlomo n’ Yehia and Rabbi Yosef Ya’evetz the Hassid, and even Rabbi Yitzchak Abarbanel turned to him in his youth with questions. Hayon’s comprehensive commentary on the Book of Jeremiah includes a division of the book into prophecies and a careful interpretation of each verse, on its linguistic and conceptual aspects. The commentary is published for the first time in this edition from a unique manuscript that appears to be an autograph. The manuscript is written in a difficult-to-read Eastern script and has been expertly deciphered by the author, paying attention to the cycles of corrections and glosses in it. This critical edition also includes an extensive introduction to Rabbi Yosef Hayon, his commentary, and his interpretive approach to the Bible.