The Jerusalem sage who crossed Europe and North Africa as an emissary — and catalogued over a thousand authors
The Chida was born in Jerusalem and spent years as a shadar, a fundraising emissary for the Hebron community who crossed Italy, France, Holland, Germany, England and North Africa, keeping a vivid travel diary of his journeys. From that same restless life he also produced Shem HaGedolim, a pioneering bibliography that catalogued well over a thousand Torah authors and their works — a reference scholars still open today.
How we know
Chaim Yosef David Azulai, the Chida (1724, Jerusalem – 1806, Livorno), served as a fundraising emissary (shadar) for Hebron on two extended missions (1753–1757 and 1772–1778) across Italy, France, Holland, Germany, England and North Africa, recorded in his travel diary Ma'agal Tov. His Shem HaGedolim catalogues well over a thousand Torah authors and their works.
One of many fact-checked wonders across eight traditions at The Spring of Wisdom.