Raphael Mordechai Malki

Raphael Mordechai Malki was a physician, scholar, and rabbinic judge in seventeenth-century Jerusalem. Little is known about Malki prior to his arrival in Jerusalem around 1677, save that he was born in Europe (possibly Italy) to a New Christian family and that he lived in Italy and Amsterdam. Malki was fluent in Hebrew, Spanish, Italian, and Latin, and later learned Arabic. In Jerusalem, he studied at the Beit Ya‘akov yeshiva and became well versed in the Talmud. He was also deeply involved in public affairs in Jerusalem and was appointed a rabbinic judge. Malki wrote a biblical commentary, medical treatises on the pulse and on medicinal plants in the land of Israel, as well as responsa. His writings, which reveal his interest in kabbalah, philosophy, and astronomy, are a treasury of information about life in Jerusalem. Malki’s Ma’amarim bi-refu’ah (Chapters on Healing) contains information regarding the city’s medical conditions and includes a chapter on pregnancy and birth.