This is an interesting book from my antique book collection. The original book Bchinat Olam by Rabbi Yedaya Hapenini, with Bakashat Hamemin was printed in Ferrera in 1551. Bakashat Hamemin at the end are requests written as poems, with all words beginning with the letter Mem by Rabbi Yosef Fransiche.
Rabbi Yedaya Hapenini of Badrash was a poet, doctor and philosopher, from the city of Badrash in Province, France (about 1270-1340). He was known as “Hapenini” after his poems which he wrote in a rhythm called Peninim in Arabic. He considered himself a disciple of the Rambam (Maimonides) and he wrote enthusiastically in his favor during the great debate about learning philosophy. (His responsa were published in the Rashba’s responsa, chapter 418).
This is a book of ethics in poetic phrase about concerns of This World, and things that bring one to the World to Come.
This version was printed in Vienna in 1804, published with his commentary by Rabbi Moses Galanti.
The Galanti family flourished at the beginning of the sixteenth century in Rome. The family settled in the Land of Israel, where it produced authors and other celebrities.
The book has a large number of Haskamos (approbations), starting with Rabbi Tomtov Algazi, born in Izmir, Turley in 1727, emigrated to Jerusalem 1735, died 1802, and Rabbi Yaakov Hazan of Jerusalem. Others include Rabbi Yechiel Michel Halevi from Glogau and Eisenstadt.
Jewish Miscellanies 