Career
He belonged to an exiled Spanish family, and was the grandson and pupil of Moses ibn Habib. He edited various important works. To this end he left Safed, where he seemed to have taken up his abode, and relocated to Constantinople.
Rosanes appointed Culi dayan, which, together with his position as teacher, secured to him a sufficient livelihood.
In that year Rosanes died. He left voluminous literary remains in a very chaotic condition.
To introduce order into this chaos a scholar of the first rank was needed. Culi was entrusted with this task.
But even for him it meant a labor of several years.
First, in 1728, he edited Rosanes" book "Parashat Derakim," a work both midrashic and halachic content. Three years later he finally published Rosanes" voluminous "Mishneh la-Melek", one of the most famous commentaries on Maimonides" Mishne Torah, enriched with numerous important notes of his own. To both these works Culi wrote a preface.
His most important work is his commentary on the Torah, entitled "Maine"am Loez".
This work, which is held in high regard by the Jews of the East, is a very elaborate encyclopedic commentary in Ladino, dealing with Jewish life in all its relations. Its material was taken from the Talmud, the Midrash, and early rabbinic literature.
However, Rabbi Culi only managed to write his work on Genesis and on two-thirds of Exodus before he died. Because of the overwhelming popularity of the Maine"am Loez, other prominent rabbis of Turkey took over this endeavor and completed the remaining volumes.
Culi also wrote a halakic work under the title "Simanim le-Oraita," which, however, remained in manuscript.
