Lots of us have probably kept a journal or diary at some time. Can you imagine some time in the future your diary being published and becoming famous all over the world? Join us as we take a look at some famous journals.
The writings of the Chida cannot really be called a journal but rather a sefer. The Chida Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azoulai (1724–1806) a renowned talmid chacham and the author of numerous seforim was born in Jerusalem. He was chosen to be a meshulach to travel abroad to raise money for the poverty-stricken Jewish community of Chevron.
For 26 years the Chida traveled visiting countries as far flung as France Holland Germany Italy North Africa Morocco and Tunisia. The sefer Ma’agal Tov records the rare manuscripts he discovered the communities he visited and the dangerous adventures he experienced such as his close scrape with the Russian navy and his fear of being attacked by the Knights of Malta.
The Chida begins his sefer:
These are the happenings of the young one — all the happenings and great events that passed over me from the day I went out to the townships went into the cities of the lands of the nations various kingdoms and different peoples traversing the sea and traveling by every sort of vehicle sedan and ark in wagons by mule and camels.
Here the Chida describes how his fundraising mission in Ancona Italy fared:
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