העלאת אם למקרא על המוקד — חלב 1865

In 1865, the rabbis of Aleppo ordered that all the copies of the book Em Lamikra written by Rabbi Eliahu Ben Amozeg from Livorno be burned. Indeed, the author of this book gave a new, modern, and scientific commentary to the Bible. However, the radical and fanatic act of the rabbis of Aleppo was uncharacteristic of most Oriental rabbis. They called the rabbis of other communities to do the same and to excommunicate the author but only the rabbis of Damascus agreed to follow their suggestion. The rabbis of Jerusalem accepted the Aleppan rabbis' arguments against Ben Amozeg and his book but did not agree to the extreme steps that they adopted. The aim of this article is to show the connection between the traumatic event that happened in Aleppo in 1862 — the founding of a reform community by Rabbi Refael Katsin — and the radical stance of the rabbis of Aleppo in the case of Em Lamikra and probably other cases later. There is the further question whether this event had any influence on the circulation of Em Lamikra and on the publication of Ben Amozeg's other book, Em Lamasoret.