ר׳ יצחק בן מאיר הכהן

ר׳ יצחק בן מאיר הכהן (1780–1849) was a ritual slaughterer and halakhic author in Livorno’s important Italian Sephardi community. Biographical documentation is sparse, but the title page and national-library catalogue of his זבחי כהן identify him explicitly as the shochet of the Livorno congregation. Published in Livorno in 1832, the book presents the laws of shechita, examination of the lungs, nikkur and treifot, with Italian terminology alongside Hebrew legal discussion. Its exceptional illustrated sections identify anatomical structures and record the Italian names and received kosher traditions for numerous birds. Because bird names vary greatly between regions, later halakhic and zoological researchers value these labelled drawings as rare evidence for an early nineteenth-century local mesorah. No evidence presently supports movements outside Livorno, and this record therefore avoids manufacturing travel from the book’s circulation. He died in 1849.