ר׳ צדקיה בן אברהם הרופא

ר׳ צדקיה בן אברהם הרופא, a member of Rome’s distinguished Anaw family, was a thirteenth-century Italian halakhist and the compiler of שבולי הלקט. He was the younger brother of ר׳ בנימין בן אברהם הרופא and studied both in Italy and in the Ashkenazic world. Sources associate his training with ר׳ ישעיה בן מאלי דטראני and with ר׳ יעקב מווירצבורג; his responsorial network included ר׳ אביגדור כהן מווינה and ר׳ מאיר בן ברוך מרוטנבורג. שבולי הלקט arranges the laws of prayer, Sabbaths, festivals, mourning and other recurring practice into 372 sections, preserving a particularly rich collection of Italian, French and German customs and rulings. Its value is therefore both legal and historical: it records traditions that might otherwise have disappeared. A supplementary collection treats dietary and other prohibitions. The work circulated in manuscript for centuries before modern printing, and later abridgements and expansions reflect its continuing authority. Rome is his secure home and principal centre; the Würzburg study point is included because the biographical tradition names that teacher, while the exact travel year and his lifespan endpoints remain approximate.