Rav Yom Tov Algazi, the Maharit Algazi, was one of the main students of the famed Mekubol, Rav Sholom Sharabi. Stemming from a long line of great Torah sages originating in Spain, his father, Rav Yisrael Yaakov, was Av Bais Din in Izmir, Turkey, for over forty years before being appointed Rishon LeTzion in Yerushalayim. Rav Yom Tov was born in 1727 in Izmir, and studied together with Rav Chaim Yosef Dovid Azulai (the Chida) as a youth. In 1758, he was appointed Rosh Yeshiva of Neveh Sholom. In 1782, after the petira of Rav Sholom Sharabi, Rav Yom Tov was appointed Rosh Yeshiva of Bais El and served as Rishon LeTzion following the petira of Rav Refoel Meyuchas.
Rav Yom Tov Algazi passed away on 2 Adar Aleph, 5562 (1802) and was buried in Har Hazeisim in Yerushalayim, next to the kevorim of his father, Rishon LeZion Rav Yisrael Yaakov Algazi, and of his rebbe, Rav Sar Shalom Sharabi.
He left behind a legacy of piskei halocha: Shu”t Simchas Yom Tov, Hilchos Yom Tov, and Kedushas Yom Tov, Yom Tov DeRabbanan – derashos, and Peirush MeHarit - on the Torah.
Durings his travels as a Shadar (shlucha de'Rabbanan rabbinic emissary) to Europe and North Africa together with Rav Yaakov Chazan between the years 1770-1775 they discovered a manuscript by Ramban on Hilchos Bikkurim, Challah, Nedarim, Bechoros and more, on which Rav YomTov Algazi wrote his sefer Hilchos YomTov. They also found other kisvei yad such as the Yad Ramah, on mesechta Bava Kama, which they were the first to publish, in Salonika (Thessaloniki Greece) in 1790.
He left one son (Rav Yaakov) and three daughters.
