a Jewish author born in Livorno, Grand Duchy of Tuscany. He was the son-in-law of the dayan Mordechai Rafael Malachi. Around the year 1679, at age 20, Da Silva left his native city for Jerusalem in then-Ottoman Syria (Damascus Eyalet), where he attended the yeshivah of Rabbi Moses Galante for ten years. In 1689, Galante died and Da Silva succeeded him as Rosh Yeshiva. He was sent to Europe to collect funds for Jerusalem.
