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118 Abraham Abraham

ibn Sahl ibn Sboshan

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

" (Bundip of Lifi-). rommcnlarirs on the Sonir of Soiiffs and the trt'alisc Hcnikot {'i) " Zi-Titr ha-Mor" (BuikIIc of Myrrh), a commciilary on the Pental<'iKli. containinjr interpretations aecordini; to both the ordinary sense and llie niyslieni method of the Zohar: (4) "Zeror lia-Kesef " (Bundle of Silver), lejrai decisions (compare " Monatsschrift," 185!!. pp. 24(i, 217. and the Leyden Catalogue, pp. 94, 90). manuscript of his commentary on the Book of .Tol) was in .lellinek's library. Saba wrote also a conmientary on Pirke Aliot. mentioned in his commentary on Genesis. |i]i. ;i and 5. Aecordini; to A/.ulai ("Shem Iia-Gedolim "), who read the anecdote in a work entitled " Dihre Yosef,"

hallayyim



A

Abndiam

in

journeying from Fez to Verona became

sick on the sliip in mid-ocean during a great storm. The captain, mable to control the ship, had given up all hope, and implored Bjibbi Abniham to pniy Abrnlium stipidated that in for divine assistance. case of his death his body should l)e delivered to the Jewish community of Verona, and then jirayed for His prayer was heard, the the safety of the vessel. storm abated, and the shijj went safely on. Two days later Abraham died, and the captain, keeping his promise, brought the body to Verona, where it was buried w'itli great liouors. Abraham is not tob(t confounded with U. Abraham Saba of Adrianople, who is mentioned in the responsa of H. Elijah Mizrahi,

No.

52.

BiBLIOGRAPnv



Steinschneider,

Uesvh. ri. Judeii, mm. No. 199.

M

Cat. Bodl. No. 4:!01; Griitz, 379; Michael, Or ha-IIath

ed., vlil. 219,

J.

L.

S.

ABRAHAM IBN SAHL: See Asv Ishak, S IliliAIIIM ABRAHAM SAHTUEL Talmudist, preacher, IllN

i,.



liturgical poet; flourished about the middle of the sixteenth (-eutury. lie was a pupil of Abraham Metal, rabbi of Salonica, and later became teacher and preacher at Istib (Humelia). He died childless about In order to prevent his name from the year Ki.'iO.

and

falling into oblivion, Xis.sim ben Closes Cohen of Venice published, in 1T19, a part of his manuscripts under the title, "Shirat Dodi " (The Song of Aly Friend), a versification of the halakot contained in

Mishnah Shabbat. As poetry it has no value whatsoever, as ndght have been expected, considering the dry legal matter lie had to handle.

The

aiithorship of the mriDin.

printed in the

"Nagidti-JIezawweh," p. 22 (Amsterdam, 1712). can not be ascribed to him. Inasmuch as the memorial formula ^'ST i^ omitted after his name, the author of the tiihiihol must have lived after 1712, whereas Abraham Samuel died about 1650. The writer of these tokahot is called Abraham ben Samuel, and not Abraham Samuel. BiBLIOGRAPnT: ronforte. If ore hn-Domt, od. lS4fl, p. 32h; Steinschnetder, Cat. BmII. No. 44iU8: Michael. Or ha-Hayllim. No. 354. C^onforte's note

Both Steinschneider and Michael overlooked

and therefore

fell

into errors.

L. G.

ABRAHAM BEN SAMXTEL:

in Bareiintemporary of Abraham ben the court of Hiyyah. He was highly esteemed at Count Berenger for his knowledge of medical science. M. K.

celona about

Physician

U);i(l;

ABRAHAM BEN SAMUEL BEN ALDEMAGH Hebrew poet of the thirteenth century,

118

ABRAHAM BEN SAMUEL COHEN OF

as "The ^asid [Pimis] of AmJewish ascdic who tlourishedal the He went to live at lid of tli<' eigliteenth century. Jerusalem in 17H5. but aflerwanl tmvelcd through Europe as an agent f(irlhec<dleetion of donations for the Polish Jews in Palestine, making .msterdam

LASK, known sterdam " A

<

he died as hakam at Safed. Paleslini-, against the Jews, who had protested against e.ces.siveta.ation. He was an ascetic of a remarkable type; he fasted six days of tlii' week, from Sabbath night toSabbalh eve. but feasted (luite luxuriously on th(Sabbath. Often he deviited entin; days and nights to the study of the Torali, .standing upright during that timi'. He took his daily ablutions in the river before orfering liis prayers in the morning, often breaking through the ice in winter for this purpose. Yet in spite of all this austerity he was a man of uncommon vigor. Once in Palestine, together with a number of .Tewhis center;

duiing a

riot

Abraham was dragged to prison by some Turkish oHicials, and sulije<ted to the bastinado, for no other reason than that it was the usual method pursued by the Turkish government for extorting money from the Jews. Abraham and another rabbi alone survived. At every stroke received Abraham ish scholars.

uttered the rabbinic phrase. n3ic5' It DJ (" This, too, is for the best"). He was hehl in nverence by the best men of the time as "the holy man of God." He published several cabalistic liomilie.s, one tmder the title of • Weshab ha Kohen" (The Priest Shall Keturn), ],<vgliorn, 17S.S; another. "

Wehishab

lo

ha Kohen

"

(The

Priest Shall Ueekon), Fiirth, 1784; a third," Bet Va'aljob" (Jacob's House), Leghorn, 1792; andafourth, "

'Ayin Paniin ba-Torah "(Seventy Jleanings of the Law), Warsaw, 1797. The last work gives seventy rca.sons for the order of the sections in the Pentateuch, as W(M1 as .seventy reasons why the Law be,!;ins, " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. i. 1). All arc tille<l with fantastic numerical and alphabetical combinations. Munz, Jiatthi Elcaztir Slicmcn Rohcali, Zedner, Cat. llchr. Buvk» Bril. Mus. a. v. ; KDrsU

BinLiOGRAPnY: pp.


 * .'".K)1



Bil'l. .jKil.

11.

£J!.

K.

ABRAHAM BEN SAMCTEL HASDAI. See Samiki.. .r.i;Mi.i ABRAHAM BEN SAMUEL METU^AS. Samii;!.. See JlKVrirAs. .Vukaiiam ABRAHAM SON OF SAMUEL THE PIOUS: H.vsDAi.

1'.i;n

'

I'.h.x

An eminent Talmudie scholar ami elegisl. the brother of .Tudah the Pious (of the Kalonymus family); was born at Speyer about the second half of the twelfth century. He attained a very old age. for l-{abbi Klii-zer beii Nathan (It.VBX) of Mayence, whose death occurred before 1170, considered him a ral>bini<al authority of the fir.st order, and Isaac of Vienna, the author of "Or Zaru'a," who flourished about 1250, knew him jiersonally. Abraham was the author of several elegies on the sufTeringsof the Jews during the tirst (liilili) ami the second (1147) Crusades, as also lie was also of a few .sdihiil or penitential poems. active as an apologist for Judaism, as is shown in the "Nizzahon," Bibliography: Zanz.

.<?.

So.-MH; M,mat«schrift,

P. p. 2S!: Mlihael, 189.5,

Or ha-Hamiim,

x.xix. 4^18; 1897. xli. 146.

L. G.



some of whose verses arc found in Hebrew translations of Maimonides' Arabic commentary on the Mishnah. BIBLIOGRAPHT : Catatnque dcs Mamixcrlts TJthreitx el Samaritains de la BihliotUtyue Is'ationak dc Parte, p. 44.

G.

ABRAHAM, SAMUEL, Turkish Talmudist who

OF SOFIA: A

llourishe<l in the middle In collaboration with of the seventeenth century. Jlichael ben Moses ha-Kohen he wrote "Moreh Zedelj" (Teacher of Righteousness), which was