Haim Palachi, also spelt Palaggi, (Acronym: MaHaRHaF or HaVIF) (1788, Smyrna, Turkey – 1869, Smyrna) was a Turkish

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 author; maternal grandson of Joseph ben Hayyim Hazan, author of Hikre Leb; pupil of Isaac Gategno, author of Bet Yitzhak. After serving as president of the tribunal in his native city, he was appointed Hakham Bashi

Hakham Bashi

Hakham Bashi is the Turkish name for the Chief Rabbi of the nation's Jewish community.-History:The institution of the Hakham Bashi was established by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II, as part of the millet system for governing exceedingly diverse subjects according to their own laws and authorities...

there in 1854.

His declining years were saddened by his deposition, although he was re-instated and held the position until the year before his death, and by disturbances among the people. He was greatly venerated by the masses, and at his funeral the hearse was escorted by a battalion of troops, an honor given by the Turkish authorities to only two or three chief rabbi

Chief Rabbi

Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...

s.

Works

Palachi was a prolific writer. Not counting twenty-six manuscripts which were lost in a fire, and a large number which are unpublished, he produced twenty-six works, most of them containing in their titles his name, "Hayyim". They are as follows:

• "Darche Hayyim 'al Pirke Abot" (Smyrna, 1821), commentary on Pirke Avot;
• "Leb Hayyim" (vol. i, Salonica, 1823; ii.-iii., Smyrna, 1874-90), responsa and comments on the Shulchan Aruch
  Shulchan Aruch
  The Shulchan Aruch also known as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most authoritative legal code of Judaism. It was authored in Safed, Israel, by Yosef Karo in 1563 and published in Venice two years later...
  
  ;
• "De-Rahamim le-Hayyim";
• "Hayyim ba-Yad", halachic responsa;
• "Semichah le-Hayyim" (Salonica, 1826);
• "Nishmat Kol Hai" (2 vols., ib. 1832-37), responsa;
• "Tsedakah Hayyim" (Smyrna, 1838);
• "Hikeke Leb" (2 vols., Salonica, 1840-49), responsa;
• "Tochahat Hayyim" (2 vols., ib. 1840-53), moral counsel and sermons;
• "'Ateret Hayyim";
• "Yimmatse le-Hayyim", prayers for different needs;
• "Nefesh Hayyim" (ib. 1842);
• "Torah ve-Hayyim";
• "Hayyim Tehillah";
• treatises on various subjects, and a eulogy of Sir Moses Montefiore
  Moses Montefiore
  Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, Kt was one of the most famous British Jews of the 19th century. Montefiore was a financier, banker, philanthropist and Sheriff of London...
  
  , with an appendix, "Derachav le-Mosheh", about the Damascus affair
  Damascus affair
  The Damascus affair was an 1840 incident in which the accusation of ritual murder was brought against members of the Jewish community of Damascus. Eight notable Jews of Damascus were falsely accused of murdering a Christian monk, imprisoned and tortured. Several of the imprisoned died of torture,...
  
  (ib. 1845);
• "Hayyim Derachav" (ib. 1850);
• "Hayyim la-Roshe";
• "Kaf ha-Hayyim", halachic rulings and morals;
• "Mo'ed le-Kol Hai", laws of the festivals;
• "Re'e Hayyim" (3 vols., ib. 1860);
• "Hayyim ve-Shalom" (Smyrna, 1862);
• "Katub le-Hayyim";
• "Sippur Hayyim";
• "Birkat Mordekai le-Hayyim" (ib. 1868);
• "Sefer Hayyim" (Salonica, 1868);
• "Ginze Hayyim" (Smyrna, 1872).

Works since printed from manuscript

• "Refuat Hayyim", spiritual remedies for diseases;
• "Yismach Hayyim", on the significance of names;
• "Hayyim be-Yad", responsa.