.
Abula&a
THE JEWISH KNCYCLOPEDIA
[Jilliu.k.
,
ill
his |ii(fiuc Id " Srfi r lia-Ot." siiys
"In
theS|mniiinl Alinilmiii Almlaliii <if llic lliiitccntliccntiny Essciiisiii of old fdiiiid ils icsurrcclioii. I'lciicliinj; iisccticisiii
spirit
tliniii.irli
iiiiil
Ihr
potciitialily of wiili (!oil. iiricliil
liij.'li<sl
coiiimiiiuoii
llir
by a
perfrcl knowli'iljju ami iisi- of His names, lie was thoroii};lilv coiivinccii of his prophetic mission, ami consideieii himself to be the (lod sent Messiah and Son of God. lie ditlers. however, from the .Messiahs
who have
risen at dilTereiit times in his many-sided philosopliical Iniininu: as well as in his jierfeet unHe aiMresses liiiiiself not sellishness and siiieerily. to the masses, but to the educated and enliiihleiied, and does not conliiie his mission to liis corelifrionists, Init is tilled with the desire to extend it to tlie It seems adlierents of the Christian church also. that, for the siike of intiuencinjr these, he tried to construct a Trinitarian sysleni. thoiiirli it was a Trinity in form merely, and did not touch the essence Before his vision stood the of God's personality. ideal of a iinily of faith, the realization of which he lonircd to liriiijr aliout. Iinluicil with this spirit, his disciples worked in Spain and Italy, emphasizing still more the Trinitarian idea while treatiiig of the "Ten Setirot in order to win the adherents '
of the Church. Hence the terms Father. Mother, Son, and Holy Ghost, borrowed from the Christian creed, in the cabalistic literature of the lliirteeiitli century. In order to understand Alnilafia psycliologicall.v and .indue him correctly and willioiil bias in the light of history, it must lie borne in mind that his cradle was in Spain, the home of religious ecstasy, and that the age in which he lived was that of the Cru.sades. so favorable to mjstic speculation, an ago in which many longed to .sec the barriers separating Judaism, Christianily, and Islam broken down, and in which the JMcssianic hopes of the Jews K,| found new" nourishment in many hearts." JeUinck gives a list of Abiilatia's works in the introduction to "Philosojihic iind Kabliala," p. 7; but it, needs correction from Stciiiselineider. "Catalog," 2d ed., No. 285 c< pnxsim. Munich. Abulatia's wrilingsare not wanting in excellent ideas and Ix'autiful illustrations, but these are so over.srovn with mystic obscurity and abstruseness that a ]K'nisalof them is not very edifying.
Bibliography: M. H.
Landiuier, in Litnnttirhhilt (hy Drl(itils si-liciliir ilisinlcnvd Almlnfla
Jt'Uin4'k iwlnnlrvntcd a irreat deal of sludv tothis auttior), in the works alit-ady nit^itii'iit-d and in Ids Ueitritfie zur Gcuch. th r K'lhlmlit. pi. ji.; sii-insrhneient.1,
im't. pp. 3S1 t(
from
Ills
der. (ll(lhi(i zti t<i
.««</.
long obsrurity)
dcrHchr.
llniiflyrlirill: ii ih r StaatsltUiliiitliili
- is it nliti.
cuntainlntr reffrences r/. .Iiiilrn. vli. 7 ; Blocli. Gesc-h. Knhlmhi, pp. it'nl seq.; Vopelsteln and
MDiii-hrn. 2d ed.. Nus.
Hrhr.
Itihl.: (iriilz. (;. m)i.
tJnhrirkrlntui Rieper. (ri:.'<i'h. d.
(/.
il.
Jwkn
in iiimu
i-
^"
et seq, (nee<is suine
emendation)
Abulafia
Author of
(Abolafia):
"Shibl.ie Tannaim" (The Praises of Tannaim), Salonica. 1ST2. a work glorifying the Tannaites.
Hayyim ben David Abulafia lived tury.
ill
I'ali-sline al
llie
Talmudist.
who
end of ihe eighteenlli cen-
He
held rabbinical ]iosls in Sated, Lari.ssa, and Smyrna. An extensive work from his pen on the Book of Commandments (" Semag " =" Sefer Jlizwot Gadol ") was destroyed by tire in Smyrna. He was the author of some hag.eadic expositions which are to be found in the collection of rabbinical decisions, "Esh Dat" (The Fire of the Law), by Joseph Nal.iSeveral of his rabbinical demiili, Salonica. 1790. cisions
Hayyim ben Jacob
Abulafia : Habbinical nuPalestine; died al Damascus. 17-14. lie was the giandfallicr of Hayyim lien David Abiilatia and grandson of Isaac Nissim alien (iainil. Abiilalia was a rabbi in Smyrna, w here he instituted many wholcsonu' re.irulations. In his old ii.!.'e he reHe is the author of several works: stored Tiberias. lliority;
(1)
born
in
"Mikrae Kodesli
"
(Holy Convocations), Smyrna, Talmudicnl
1729, containing treatises on Biblicaland
themes; (2)"Yosef Lckah
"
(Increase of Learning), three volumes on the Peiilateuch; (:i) " Yashresh Ya'akob" {.laeob Will Take Uoot), Smyrna, 1729; and (1) "Slielmt Ya'akob" (Till' Captivity of Jacob), Smyrna, 17:i;i, an elabonite commentary on the hag.sadie compilation " '?;n Ya'akol)," by Jacob ibn Habil)andotliers(Sleinschncider, "Cat. l?odl." col. 820). JI. K. ^^ayyim Nissim Abulafia : Chief rabbi of born near the beginning of the nine.lenisalem teenth century, proliably in Tiberias, Palestine; died
Smvrna,
173(1-;!2,
a
work
in
isiil. He was a descendant of Hayyim Abulatia (Fiirst. "Bibl. Jud." i. 16, and "Ziinrat Im-Arez" by Jacob Berab, son-in-law of Hayyim Abulatia, 1st ed., JIantua, 1745), who, at the invitation of Sheik Daliir al-Einir, came from Smyrna to Tiberias in the middle of the ei.slitceiilh century. Hayyim Nissim was cho.sen chief rabbi of Jerusalem, to succeed R. Isaac Kobo, in Ihe fall of 185-1. and was ricognized as such by the pasha of Jerusalem, altlioiigh. like his predeces.sor, he was not conlirmed by the central government of Constantinople. He lield the office for six years and four months, when he died. He left many works in manuscript, but as far as known none has been published. K. Abraham Ashkenazi was
at Jerusalem, Feb. 21.
his successor. ItiBMOr,R.vpifV
For
Ijis
I.iincz. Jfni.<o;<-iH
epitapli ihid.
I.
Tear Book,
iv. 212,
213.
14.")-l-l".
P.
Wi.
Isaac Abulafia: of " Pene Y'izliak
Riibbi al -Vlcppo, and author (Isaac's Countenance), Smvrna,
1871.
Jacob Abulafia:
Kabbi; died at Safed, Palesthe beginning of the eighteenth century; father of Hayyim ben Jacob Abulatia and grandson of Jacol) Berab. Abulatia was a juipil of .Vsbasan and a rabbi in Damascus. His rabbinical decisions arc still extant in inanuscript (Azulai, " Shem haGedolim." No. 140; Ghirondi and Nepi, "Toledot (Jedole Yisrael," No. 218). tine,
at
Joseph ben Meir Abulafia
Spanish
rablii in
Seville. SjiaiiKdied al 'I'olrdo. i:i49.
Joseph, ben Todros Abulafia: Spanish writer; and inililished a defense of Maimonides. which he addressed to the rabbis of Provence. Moses de Leon dedicated his book "Shekel ha Kodesli " (The Slickel of the Sanctuary), 1292,' to lived in Talaver:!.
P. B.
5ayyim
142
and sermons appeared after his death under Hay vim" (The Breath of Life),
the title "Xishmat Salonica, 1806.
Bibliography: Azulai. Shcm ha-Gcdolim,
I.
54.
him
(Ziinz. "Z. (J." pji.
-l:!li
rt xcq.).
Meir ben Joseph Abulafia: Spanish Toledo.
rabbi in
i:ill5.
Meir ben Todros ha-Levi Abulafia (known sometimes as Kamah = Rabbi Meir ha-Levi): Nasi and Talmudist; born al Buriros. S])aiii. about 1180; dicil .March 20. 1244. He was the son of Todros ben .ludah. to whom the ]iliysician Judali ben Isaac dedicated his poem. "The Conflict of Wisdom and Wealth." published in 1214. Meir, the schoolmate of Moses Nahmaiiides. was so highly esteemed at Toledo that on his father's death in 1225 the hitter's honorary title of iiiixi (prince) was applied to him. Although he did not hesitate to place interpretations of his own on T:ilmudic passages wherever they seemed contradictory to his idea of a perfect God
