This book, with its interesting connections to Moroccan Jewry, was printed in London in 1906 by Bril & Co., 8 Church Lane, E.
It is by Rabbi Shimon Abecassis, Palgei Mayim consists of sermons and eulogies for righteous people. Ach Tov LeYisrael consists of short chiddushim (novellae or original commentary) on the Talmud.
Hacham (wise man or rabbi) Shimon Abecassis was born to Mas’ouda and Hacham Shlomo Abecassis in about 1859, in Mogador, Morocco.
He initially studied and taught Torah in Mogador. In 1931 he moved to Casablanca, where he studied and taught at the Keter Torah yeshiva, under the auspices of Mr. Yitzhak Maliakh, who saw to all his needs. When he returned to Mogador, he officiated as a Dayan (Rabbinical Judge) at Hacham Abraham Ben Soussan’s Beit Din (Rabbinical Court).
Rabbi Shimon Abecassis married Freiha, and the couple had sons and daughters..
As well as this book he was the author of Sass Anochi, sermons and biblical commentary, and Rach VeTov, original commentary on the Talmud, published in Cassablanca in 1937. He passed away on 17 Nissan, 5719 (1959) and is buried in Jerusalem.
(note recent books by the rabbi that have been sold in auctions have had his surname tranliterated from the Hebrew spelling – “abekatzitz”.)
The haskomos (approbations or letters of recommendation) printed at the beginning of the book include:
Rabbi Yosef ben Attar from Essaouira, Morocco, died May 11, 1943, Rabat.
Rabbi Yehuda ben Moyal. He was born in Taroudant, grew up in Mogador and lived in Essaouira. He was a Rabbi of Mogador until 1909, and emigrated to the Land of Israel where he died in 1911.
Jewish Miscellanies 