לחם משנה: Sourcing and Defending Rambam's Mishneh Torah

Rabbi Avraham Botton was born in Salonica in 1545. As a young student, Rabbi Avraham studied under the great Sephardic Talmudist and Halachist, Rabbi Shmuel de Modena, known as the Maharashdam - מהרשד״ם.

Rabbi Avraham Botton and his chavrusa Rabbi Mordechai Kali studied the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah in great depth, and the explanations, resolutions, and chiddushim which they came up with formed the basis for Rabbi Avraham’s renowned work, Lechem Mishneh. Rabbi Avraham’s Lechem Mishneh is considered one of the most remarkable commentaries on the Mishneh Torah; in fact Rabbi Shlomo of Chelm (author of Merkeves ha-Mishneh) equates the Lechem Mishneh’s elucidation of the Mishneh Torah to the Maharsha’s profound commentary on the Gemara, Rashi, and Tosfos!

During the course of his compilation of Lechem Mishneh, the author became aware that Rabbi Yosef Karo, the preeminent Torah leader of the generation had just completed and published his Kesef Mishneh. When a copy of the Kesef Mishneh arrived in Salonica, Rabbi Avraham wrote the following (Hilchos tefillah, 11:15):

Aside from his Lechem Mishneh, Rabbi Avraham Botton wrote responsa which were collected and published under the title Lechem Rav. Rabbi Avraham also wrote chiddushim on the Talmud; those on Bava Kama were published in a sefer titled מהררי נמרים by Avraham Akra in Venice in 1599.

Tragically, Rabbi Avraham de Botton perished in a plague in Salonica in 1588, he was just forty-three years old. In his Koreh ha-Doros, Rabbi Dovid Conforte records that which he heard from the elders: “Rabbi Avraham passed away on a Friday, and the townspeople hurried to bury him before sunset when Shabbos would begin. As the townspeople left the cemetery, they realized that the sun had already set and were distraught that they had violated Shabbos. Suddenly, a miraculous event occurred and the sun reappeared in the horizon, demonstrating that Shabbos had not yet begun.