Mayse-bukh (Book of Stories)

Born in Livorno, Tuscany, in 1656, Hezekiah ben David de Silva was a scholar best known for his halakhic work Peri ḥadash (New Fruit). De Silva studied in Syria and later headed a yeshiva in Jerusalem…

In the past there were no children among Jews, only “little Jews without beards,” so neither was there any children’s literature. Boys in the traditional heder used to read Ḥumesh [The Pentateuch]…