Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/157

111 —

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Ill

Its for its profound comnu'uts. as tlic nianiiiT in which Simon bi-n Yohiii is iiitroiluccil as s|i«ikiT. slmws striking rcsfniblanci- to the Zoliar, and it may be that the autlior had a larger version of the Zoliar before work entitled him than is now extant. (3) "Megalle lia-Ta aluniot," quoted by the author in

by Isaac

Luriii

language, as

wr-ll

A

work

the

i)reviously mentioned.

liiiii.iooRAPHY: Jcllliick. AuamiM KiOihalUiliiKhcr MiiKtil'. I!i (lifnimn part): Mlilmcl, Or hd-Hnyuiin. No. Uti; HeiiJuculi, IKiir lul-Si (mini, pp. S4. si;, ^IC. ,1 L. S.

K — ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC HAYYOT



(.'oni-

He is the seventeenth crnliiry. llolek Tamim " (He Who Walks Perthe author of fect), e.xplaiiiing the laws of the I'entateueh after the fourfold method of interpretation known as DTIQ; "'"' is. peruxh ("literal e.xplaiiation "), remez (• allegorical "), (lirnn/i (" homiletieal"), and sod niriitator; livid

in

"

("mystical") (Cracow, 1034). BiBLioGRAPiiY: MIebael, Or ha-^/af/i/im. No.

14.

jj

jj

ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC BEN JEHIEL OF PISA



Cnuidson

cil

ihi-

fuiiious philaiilhrupist,

Jkiilkl of Pisa, whose charity did much to alleviate Abrathe sufferings of the Spanish exiles in M'Ji. ham was a worthy member of that distinguished faniilv. He died, according to the report of Gedaliah ibn Vahyah, in lli'i4, in the prime of manhood. Michael is mistaken in thinking him to be identical with that Abraham ben Isaac of Pisa from whose pen a responsum exists in the coUeetioQ of Menahem Azariah <hi Fano, who died in 1020. Illlil.lixlHAI'llv



Miciiiic-I,

I

ir lui-lliiiiilhii.

N".

111.

ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC HA-KOHEN who

hymn-writer ]i"robably the



A

Germany about 10%;

tiourished in

son of Isaac ben Eleazar ha-Koheii,

He

the author of seveml liturgical works, in one of which reference is made to the cruelties perpetrated upon the Jews by the crusaders. He compo.sed several yozerot for f^abbath Hanukkah, in one of which the story of Judith and Holofernes is repeated.

who

lived in .Mentz in

BuiLKKiltAl-nv



10i)3.

Zutiz. Lthrnturij>i'rh.

->.

is

'i.

j

ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC HA-LEVI

A

Spanish 'I'almudist and author; born at Barcelona in the early part of the fourtienlh century; died at

He was a religious Narboiiiie in October, i:!ii;!. poet and leader of the Jewish community in Oerona (Catalonia), an<l is praised not only for his deep Talniudic knowledge, but more especially for the disinterested manner in which he performed his functions. It is i)robable that he left Gerona at the time of the terrible persecution of i:i!ll and settled in Narbonne. A poem for the Passover service and four poetical lameiitalions from his pen are preserved In i:!!lt, I'roliat Duran wrote a in manuscript. memorial notice of Abrahaiu (printed in ".Maaseh Efod," edited by Priedliimler anil Kohn, Vienna. 1«85, p 11)1). A letter exists in manuscript, addressj'd by Moses Vidal ha-Levi to Abraham I.saac ha Levi, ideiitilied by Neubuuer with the subject of this article, llnil.ionnAiMiv. Zunz, hilernluryrwh. p, 512; Griltz, (7fwJi. mnioiil calird

C.l

N

I-

RABuD II.

Iiom

thi- iiiiii.il liltcis "

designation "ab iiit din -- chief judge) Distinguished Talmudisl of Ijinguedoc; born prob

of his

ollicial

—

—

—

raliiah ha-Levi.

Like most of the Provencal scholars.

RABal)

II.

was a diligent author, composing numerous commentaries upon the Talmud, all of which, liowever, have been lost with the exception of that upon the treatise Baba Bati-a, of whieli a manuscript has been preserved in Munich. Numerous quotations from these commentaries are to be found in the writings of Zerahiah Gerondi, Nahmanides. Nissini Gerondi, and others. ^lany of his cx]ilaiiations of Talmudical pasSiigcs are also repeated in his responsji which give his method of treatment. In Atiraham's comments on the Talmud he seems to have taken Rashi as his model for they are marked by the same precision and clearness of exposition. An idea of this writer's Talmudical knowledge may be gathered from his book "Ha Eshkol" (three parts of which were published by M. Auerbach.IIalberstadt, ISOT-OH). This work, the fourth part of which exists in manuscript in the library of the Alliance Israeliteof Paris,

Ha-Eshkol. was modeled after the well-known work of Alfasi. and was the first important attempt at a legal code made by the French Jews.

It can not, however, be said to equal Alfasi's either in originality or in depth, but it con-

tained

some noteworthy improvements upon

its

model, such as the arrangement of its contents aecording to subject-matter, which greatly facilitated its iniictical use.

KABal)

II.

also

drew upon the Je-

rusalem Talmud and the gaonic literature much more fully than Alfasi, and treated at much greater length many subjects which were only briefly considered by tiic latter. His depth and acumen, however, are to much better advantage in his responsa, ([uoted in the collection " Teniim Deim " (part iv. of

shown

"Tummat Yesharim," by Benjamin

(:

ably at Montpellier about 1110; died at Xarbonne, 1179. His teacher was Moses b. Joseph b. Merwan ha-Levi, and during the lattcr's lifetime KABal) H. was appointeil president of the rabbinical board of Narbonne composed of nine members and was made piineii)al of the rabbinical academy. In the latter cai)acity lie taught two of the greatest Talmudists of Provence namely, Abraham b. David III., wlio afterward became his sou-iu law, and Ze-

work

j)

Abraham bar ^iyya ha-Nasi Abraham b. Isaac of Nar bonne

Jlotal, Venice, lOiil.and in the" Seferha-Terumot " of Samuel Sardi. ( Ither responsii sent to Joseph ben lien (Graziano)of Barcelona and Meshullam ben Jacob of Lund are found in a manuscript belonging to Baron de GUnzburg in St. Petersburg. As an acknowledged itibbinical authority and president of the rabbinical board, he was frequently called upon to give his decision on dillicult questions; and his answers show that he was not only a lucid exegete, but also a logical thinker.

Though he lacked originality Abraham's influence upon Talmudical study in Provence ought not Laiiguedoc formed politically a to be underrated. connecting link between Sjiain and northern France, in like manner Jewish scholars iilayed the rCile of intermediaries between the Jews of these countries. Abraham b. Isaac rei>resented this function; he was the intermediary between the dialectics employed by the tosatists of France and the systematic .science of the Spanish nibbis The Flench Italian ciHlitiers Aaron ha-Kohen of Lunel, Zeilekiah b. Abraham, and " many others took .biiihani b Isaac's " Ha Kshkol audit was not until the appeaninco for their model; of the "Tnr." written by .laeob b Asher. a tJerman .lew resident in Spain, that " Ha Kshkol " lost its iiiiporlanceand sank into conii>aiative oblivion TIlO school founilid by Alinihiimb Isiiiic, asexeiiiplitied In HABal) III and Zerahiah ha I>evi. was nevertheless the creator of a svstem of Talniudic criticism;

—