Moshe Chafetz (משה חפץ) was a late 17th century rabbinical scholar in Venice, Italy. Gershom Chafetz (גרשם חפץ) was his son, whose shortened life showed equal promise.
Moshe ben Gershom (1663-1711) (aka Moshe Chafetz, Moses Gentili), was a rabbinic scholar in Venice, Italy. Born in Trieste, raised in Venice, he lived as a private tutor teaching Talmud and Midrash. He wrote poetry, and dealt with philosophy, math, and natural sciences. (Other spellings: Moses ben Gershom, Chefetz, Hefez, Hefes, and many, many others.)
A member of the prominent Chafetz family (Gentili, in Italian) of Northern Italy, he was considered a child prodigy and studied under the renowned R. Solomon Nizza.
One of his poetic works, written at age 13, is in the Venice edition of the Bible (1675-78). The poet Yomtov Valcasson wrote a poem for Chafetz's wedding to Yvonah Karbonnah (Venice, 1682). Chafetz wrote a poem for Yehuda Volterra's wedding (1683).
- Hanukkat haBayit (lit. Dedication of the Temple), details the construction of the Second Temple (Venice, 1696).
- Melekhet Machashevet (Intentful Work), a homiletical-philosophical commentary on the Torah (Venice, 1710, with tables and a portrait of the author second edition, Koenigsbuerg, 1859, with supercommentary, Machashevet Choshev, by Judah Leib Jaffe).
His portrait in Melekhet Machashevet was the first author portrait ever published in a Hebrew book (first edition, 1710)
Gershom ben Moses (1683-1700) was Moshe Chafetz's son. Moshe published Gershom's Yad Charuzim, adding an introduction with Gershom's biography.
Based on dates in that biography: Born on Tuesday, the 11th of Adar, 5443 (March 9, 1683). He died on the fourth shabbat of Tevet (Tevet 25, 5460 or January 16, 1700) from plague (smallpox?) at age 16. (All sources say he was 17, but they subtracted the years and didn't account for the dates.)
Moshe Chafetz quotes some of Gershom's interpretation in Melekhet Machashevet.
- Yad Charuzim (lit. Handbook of Rhymes), a Hebrew rhyme lexicon. (Venice, 1700 second edition, without appendix and eulogy, but additional notes by Simchah Calimani, Venice, 1738-45)
- Twelve rules for Hebrew usage in poetry and rhyme scheme
- Appendix with a poetic version of Rambam's enumeration of the 613 mitzvot
- Eulogy by Solomon ben Isaac Nizza, Gershom's teacher (appendix)