Volume 1
The Jewish encyclopedia : a descriptive record of the history, religion, literature, and customs of the Jewish people from the earliest times to the present day / prepared ... under the direction of ... Cyrus Adler [and others] Isidore Singer ... managing editor.
- Date:
- 1901-1906
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The Jewish encyclopedia : a descriptive record of the history, religion, literature, and customs of the Jewish people from the earliest times to the present day / prepared ... under the direction of ... Cyrus Adler [and others] Isidore Singer ... managing editor. Source: Wellcome Collection.
107/752 (page 59)
![Abi^dor Abigdor Zuvidal ABIGDOR DE FANO. See Fano, Abigdok de. ABIGDOR HAYYIM. See Hayyim, Abigdok. ABIGDOR BEN ISAAC : A French rabbinic scholar; lived during the second half of the thir- teenth century. He is probably identical with the “ Abigdor the Frenchman ” mentioned in old manu- scripts, who wrote a commentary on the Mahzor. From a note in manuscript (Munich, No. 92),“ Abigdor the Frenchman ” appears to have been an adherent of the Cabala. It is possible that the rabbis Isaac and Abigdor of Beziers, whom Nahmanides mentions in his letter to the Jewish community of that town, are “ Abigdor the Frenchman” and his father Isaac. On the other hand, it seems improbable that Abigdor ben Isaac is identical with Abigdor mentioned in “ The Mordecai.” The latter is no doubt the Austrian Tal- mudist Abigdor ha-Kohen, who lived not long before and in the same region as Mordecai. Bibliography: Hev. Et. Juives, iii. 3; Zuuz, itittis, p. 194; Xcs £crivaitts Juifs p. 758. L. G. ABIGDOR BEN HA-KANAH. See Kanah. ABIGDOR KARA. See Kanaii, Abigdok. ABIGDOR BEN MEN AHEM : German Tal- mudist; lived at the beginning of the fifteenth cen- tury. The Bodleian collection of manuscripts con- tains respousa by him. Abigdor ben IMenahem, to judge from the place assigned to him in the collec- tion, seems to have been a contemporary of R. Jacob Molln (died 1437) and of R. Jacob Weil (1410). It is certain, however, that he was not living at the time when the responsa were collected, seeing that the collector puts after Abigdor’s name the memorial formula )''pf (that is, Zikron kedushnto nezah, nhalom misJtkaho yihyeh = The memory of the holy be everlasting; may he rest in peace). Bibliography ; Neubauer, Cat. Bodt. Hebr. MSS. No. 820. L. G. ABIGDOR BEN MOSES (called also Abigdor SoferofEisenstadt or Abigdor Izmunsh): Lived in the sixteenth century iu Cracow. He translated certain portions of the prayer-book into German. Bibliography; Steinschneider, Cat. Bod?. No. 4171; Michael, Or ba^HatJiiint. No. 13. G. ABIGDOR BEN NATHAN OF AVIGNON : French Talmudist; flourished in the thirteenth and at the beginning of the fourteenth centuries. He was the teacher of Abraham ben Nathan, the author of “ Ha-Manhig,” in which work Abigdor is twice men- tioned. In 1304, when “Ha-Manliig” was written, Abigdor was still living. Bibliography: Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 3; Michael, Or ha- Hayiiim, No. 14 ; Zunz, Z. G. p. 104; Halberstamm, in Kobak’s Ginze Nistarot, Iv. 17; Steinschneider, Hebr. Bibl. xi. 24. L. G. ABIGDOR BEN SAMUEL: A rabbi in Pru- zhany, Rushony, Wilkowyszky, and Selva (Lithu- ania and Poland), from 1719 to 1768. Totvard the close of his life he removed to Wilna, where his sou Samuel was rabbi. He died there March 1, 1771. Responsa of his are found iu the collection of Saul ben Moses of Lomzha. Bibliography; Giba't Nlmai, Zolkiev, 1774: Fuenn, Ivcneset Yi.sracl, p. .5, Warsaw, 1880. A. B. D. ABIGDOR BEN SIMHA (called also Abigdor Levi; wow de jdume, '''6 A German author, who was born iu Glogau in the sec- ond quarter of the eighteenth century. After having been a tutor for some time iu Berlin, he removed to Prague in 1768, and there followed the same voca- tion. Early in 1773, while traveling through Sax- ony, he was arrested on a false charge, and lingered in the prison of Pirna without an examination for ten mouths. During his confinement he pursued his studies in the Bible, the Talmud, and medieval He- brew philosophy without interruption. At last he found an opportunity to send a letter in Hebrew describing his predicament to Closes Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn’s reply, dated January 13, 1774, was written in German, and, as anticipated, was opened and read by the authorities. When they saw that the Hebrew scholar whom they held in custody was a friend of IMendelssohn, thej'cleared him of all sus- picion and set him at liberty. Through the aid of Isaac Dessau and his relative, R. Hir.schel Levin (Zelii Hirsch) of Berlin, he was enabled to return to Prague. The first work Abigdor published was an elemen- tary Hebrew grammar entitled “ Dabar Tob”(A Good Thing), with a table of conjugations, to which he added jVIoses ibn Habib’s “ Marpe Lashon,” Prague, 1783. In 1793 he edited the first series of letters which jMendelssohn had addressed to him (riTillN T'Di). and in 1797 supplemented it with a second series. This supplement forms the a])pendix to his poem, “Hotem Toknit” (The Perfect Seal), on which he prided himself very much. It is a didactic poem, and aims at jiroving that the teachings of the Bible surpass all the systems of iihilosojihy ever in- vented, from Socrates to Kant. It does not, however, deserve the name of poetry: it is nothing but a string of feeble arguments couched in obscure language. The commentary which the author found necessary to supply does not make the iiocm more intelligible; nor does the acrostic,which gives the name and jilaee of birth of the author, and the date of composition, relieve the poem of its glaring faults—lack of im- agination and approju-iate diction. In 1803 Abigdor edited the Pentateuch with the commentar}' of Men- delssohn and an introduction of his own. The last of his literary efforts was a poem embodied in S. W. Buchner’s “Zahot ha-lMelizah,” Berlin, 1810. 1. D. ABIGDOR B. SIMON COSTELLEZ or KOSTELIZ. See Kostkliz ((’ostellkz), Akig- DDK IS. Simon. ABIGDOR, SOLOMON BEN ABRAHAM: A Hebrew translator; born in Provence in 1384. As- sisted by his father, Abraham Bonet ben ISIeshul- lain, he, at the early age of fifteen years, translated Arnauld de Villeueiive's work, De judiciis Astrono- mias,” from Latin into Hebrew under the title “ Paniin ba-Mishjiat” (Methods of Judgment). This trans- lation still exists in manuscript. In 13!)9 he also translated Sacrobosco’s “Spluera iMiindi” (f)n the Astronomy of the Spheres), under the title “IMareh ha-Ofanim ” (The Indicator of the Spheres). The last-mentioned work was printed in Abraham bar Hiyya’s “Zurat ha-Arez ” (Offenbach, 1720), with notes by IMattathiah Deiacret, Manoah Hendel, and others. Bibliography: Steinsehneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 2254; idem, Hebr. Ucl)crtf. pp. 043, 782. L. G. ABIGDOR ZUVIDAL: Italian rabbi of Ger- man descent, who flourished iu the sixteenth cen- tury; died Nov. 13, 1601. David de Pomis, in the preface to his dictionary, “Zemah David,” states that Abigdor u as of German descent. It was at the request of Abigdor and some of his friends that Ju- dah Moscata was prompted to write his commentary on the “Cuzari.” Abigdor was a disciple of Samuel](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29000488_0001_0109.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
