ר׳ מלאכי בן יעקב הכהן

ר׳ מלאכי בן יעקב הכהן (c. 1700–1772), commonly known as the יד מלאכי, was an Italian Talmudist, halakhic methodologist and kabbalist. Born and educated in Livorno, he became a leading disciple of the kabbalist ר׳ יוסף אירגאס and later succeeded him in a local rabbinic role. His responsa circulated among Italian scholars and appear in collections of contemporaries, including תודת שלמים of ר׳ ישעיהו באסאן. A ruling dated 1732 shows his participation in an Italian legal network, though it does not establish residence in Rome. During the controversy surrounding ר׳ יהונתן אייבשיץ and ר׳ יעקב עמדין, the Livorno rabbinate signed in support of ר׳ יהונתן אייבשיץ. His major work, יד מלאכי, first printed in Livorno in 1766–1767, systematizes rules governing Talmudic terminology, the methods and relative authority of codifiers, and principles used in responsa and legal decision-making. Its exhaustive citations made it one of the most durable works of rabbinic methodology. He also composed שבחי תודה for a Livorno communal fast in 1744 and wrote a Torah scroll renowned locally for its scribal forms. He died in 1772; the precise place and day are not securely documented, and the map therefore retains Livorno as his last evidenced centre rather than asserting a precise burial site.