"
of the Holy Law. Siu'h frivolity prpvalls, nlmvc Hll, ariiDni.' Ihiwealthy. We Ilnd Ihi-ae evil iiiuilllh's ^iruuiit' llie pruiMl r.pTvsentatives of the conjrrejfutton.s. vhi»
dealing In
iii'tnev.
liuv)- t.'r"wn
r'irh
.Iiiihilsiii
'I'hev rtist niT t*«'rylliliiL' that nMiiiml.s tlit-ni
L'nal plinishnient
lneit)lhle. inueh our ricit e.iM-iik'i..rilst.s ri.uld l<*ani fmni tht-lr rliris'I'lie riiri.sthm prinees ami ^'niiulees rival one tlan nelt'himrs jmnther In riTniis lo prunioie and nphuld their reilKl'jn and t+» tniin tlii-M- Vdutli In the pious .sentlmenLs of their ancestois. Our Jewish rl4'h d<'s|)l.se their faith, and pennit the teachers of
Ther-efure
(h«-
rjiliie
it
Wll.'<
How
I
religion to eat the bread of .sorrow
meaning
A
Spanish Jewish family whose from an Arabic word
|irobably derived
" reil."
The tirst member of the Alashkar family whose name litis been handed down is Samuel, the jihysi-
who lived at Seville towanl llic middle of the His son Judah, idso a physifourteenth century. cian, and, like his father, an intbieiilitil memlier of the Jewish community of Seville, ciniincd to have received, in a dream, a visit from an angel, who jiredicted for the monlh of Siwan. .'il.'il ( =i:iiH), the downfall of the town and the ruin of till the Jews in On the ailvice of this angel, Jiididi emiSpain. grated, wilh his ,son Moses, to " Mtilaea on the seacoast " that is, to Mtilagti tind his family remained there until the (Ximlsion of the Jews from Spain. In 140'J Judah and Joseph, sons of Moses, <-ian,
—
—
emigrated to Ali,'eriii; the lornier settling at !Mostaganem, and the latter tit TIemcen, where he soon
became the chief of the rabbinical school. Josejih the author of several treatises and commentaries, of which one has been lost; the others are still is
unimblished.
Moses b. Isaac Alashkar, member of anolher bninih of the laiiiily. livid in Egypt, but subsequently resided in Jcrusidein, dining the latter jmrt of the fifteenth century and at the beginning of He was prominent among contemthe sixteeulh. poraneous rabbis; and Ids opinions were held in esle<iii throughout the Levant, and even in Iltily. the teacher of Klijidi In a letter to Elijah ha Levi he complained that his large <-orrispoiidIMiznihi enc<' deprived him of much of the time due to his
—
—
]>rofissional
dulies.
Egypt
in the tirst
The two following
Talmudic
half of the six-
He carrieil on a correspondence on topics with his father, Moses Alashkar, in ' Hesponsa" he is often mentioned; and like-
teenth century. ritual
whose
wise with Joseph Caro. who answered him in his " Hesponsii Ebeu ha-Ezer " and in the " Abkat Uokcl. BlBLiOGKAi'iiY: Jew. Quart. Rev. Oziir XilLimuU Kiirst, liihl.
Iffi;
III.
Jml.
I.
- 3U;
vi. 400,
x,
l.TS,
xll. lift;
Stelnsclmelder, IM. limil. eol. 17(B; Miehael, Or ha-Haiim>i>. No. Hi.
W, M.— M.
style of the letter is dignified auil impassioned; niui its nionil aihnoiiition reveals the Eaeh seetion of the noble courage of Alami. "Iijgeret Jliisar" is preceded by a Biblical verse suggestinii its contents. Zunz iMililishcd an abridged German translation of part of il ill Hiiscli's ".Jalirbuch fiir Isracliteii," iv. (Vienna, 18-14). and this also appeared in his" (JcsainmelteSchriften," ii. 177. An earlier edition appeared in Venice in 171'^, as "Iggeret IiaHoliinah weliaEmunah " (Letter on "Wisiiom and Faith); but the name of the author was corrupted to Solomon ben Lahmi. The best edition now e.xtant of Alami's work Kxtraels of is liiat issued by .lelliuek (Vienna, 1870). the "Iggeret" are given in "Or ha Hayyiin " of .lose|ih .laabezand in Reggio's " lla-Torah welia-l'liiioSophia," On the name Alami, see Steinschneider, S. h. "Jew. Quart, Uev." si. 486.
ALASHKAR:
A
Moses Alashkar:
b.
lived iu
and poveity."
The llcbrow
name was
Abraham scholar;
tlii"iii.'h
they s>'i-k toilazzle hy priiiciMy luxury their wlve,s iinil iliiiik'hi'M^ arniv nH'Mi^^ehcs in Jrwi'N 'like pr1ni'es.ses and, swelU-il WIIU l.lMir, lln-v ilirm llii-UiM'lve^ Ihi' prinee.sijf the of their
land.
Alabaster Alatino
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
317
are the
most imjiortant of his works: (I)" Hassagot " (Critical Notes), in which he demolishes tin' whole (li>ginatical structure built up in Slieni-Tob ben SlieniTob's "Sefer lia Emumd"; fi) " Hesponsa," VJl in number. Both were piinted to^'etheral .Salibionella, l.V>:t. A si'parale ediliciu of llie " Hassagol " a|ipeanil threi' years laler at Ferrara. This collection, which leached ev<'n dislanl Jewish communities, is of imporliinc(- for the geographical iiumes iu rabbinical writings ami in liills of divorce.
ALATINO
B.
A
notable family of Jews that settled in Italy in the second half of the sixteenth century, and occupied an important position in the liistory of literature and of science. Its prominence originateil with three brothers, .Tehiel, Vitale, aiwl Jloses, who dwelt in the city of Spoleto. where they distinguished themselves iu the practise of medicine, and also pursued the study of iihilosophy. Both Viliile and Moses are favorably mentioned in Tiraboschi's "Storia della Letteratura Italiiina." Bonajuto (Azriel Pethahiah) Alatino was not only a distingiiished physician, but he also ac(|Viired no inconsiderable reputation as a rabbi, which ollice he accepted in IGOO. His notes tipon the "Shulhau '.ruk" are quoted as authoritative ("PisVe Kecantili ha-Aliaronim." xxiv.). He also showed hiinsi'lf a valiant defender of the faith by advocating the Jewish siile in a public debate on the immuttiThis disputation, which bilily of the Mostic law. took iilace in April, l(il7, was ordered by the pontifical legate in Ferrara; and Alatino's ojiponent was When the writer of the Jesuit Alfonso Ceracciolo. the jiresent article tirst published this debate. " Wikkuah 'id Nizhiyulha-Toiah" (Debate on the Eternity of ilu' Law), Leghorn. 1871). he was not able toiih'iilify the Iciirncd Israelite, but a few- years hiter, when he removed to Ferrara, he hail the good fortu'ie to find another copy of the manuscript. ii|)on which was Debate held at Ferrtiiii by the learned phynoted •'
A
•) VI" (The memory of the righteous be blessed!). In 1021 Alatino was a member of a delegation sent by the Jewish community of Ferrara to the legate, with the view of preventing the closintr of the Ghetto. Nep'i-Gliiiondi (" Toledot Gedole Yismel," p. 290), the authority here, referring to Alatino's death by the formulit ) Vt. mentions among his works one under the title "Tortit hti-Mukzeh." dealing with the laws of Siibbalb and festivals, and a ;)(.«;< (rabbinical decision), in which he opposes the opinion of No other notices of him H. Nathaniel Trabotti. apHis son Moses are known to exist. parently succeeded him in the rtibbjniral ollice; for in the list of nibbis of Ferrara there oieurs, under dale of 11148, the name of Moses Amram. .son of K. rnilerdaleof ll>4,"i wilead the name .zriel . hill no. nf Moses, the son of Hiiyyim Alatino. who appears to have been the son of tiie above-mentioned Vitale, Two membei-s of this family disiinuruished themselves in the eighteenth century: Giuseppe Benedetto Alatino idied 17:!(i) eslid)lished ii fund from which iwii ,lcwish women of Ferrara were to receive annuidiv a dower d'esaro, " .ppcndice idle Memorie Storiche." etc., p. HI); while Bonajuto Alatino wius a inucli-ndmired |ireacher in I'adua, in the >y: agogue of B. Isaac Baphael Finzi.
sician
Babbi Azriel AUilino
Amram
DiDLioiiRAriiY
Ne|il-(iblnin(il,
Sleliim'hnelder,
Ihhr. Vebtm.
p.
VX. note lis
lelotof litiMe Yisvacl, p, i».
G,
J.
Jehiel Alatino, probably the eldest of the three, eslalilished himself in Todi. where his nephew David de Pomis found him iu 15H2 in comfortalde circum-
