Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/54

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
There was a problem when proofreading this page.
Aaron of Canterbury Aaron ben Elijah
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
8

Immanuel de Romi and his friends, on one occasion, took advantage of Aaron's absence from home, broke open his book cases, hastily copied some manuscripts, and Immanuel added insult to the harm done by writing, in the form of a letter, a bitter satire on Aaron.

Biblography: Immanuel, Maḥberot, viii. 4-47, 1st ed.; Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. d. Juden in Rom, i, 330).

L. G.

AARON OF CANTERBURY: English exegete, mentioned in "Minḥat Yehudah" (The Offering of Judah) by Judah ben Eliezer on Deut. xxvi.2, in association with Rashi and R. Jacob of Orleans, and thus, seemingly, of the twelfth century. But a passage in the Close Roll of 1212 refers the decision in a divorce case to three" magistri," Mosse of London, Aaron of Canterbury, and Jacob of Oxford, and makes it probable that the Aaron mentioned in Minat Yehudah" was of the thirteenth century and acted as an ecclesiastical assessor, or dayyan. in London about 1242. If so, his name was Aaron fil (son of) Samson,

Bibliogrpahy: Zunz, Z. G. p.; Univers Israélite. 1852, p.357; Jew. Quart. Rev. v. Gl: Jacolis, 'Jews of Angevin England, pp. 98, 417.

J.

AARON OF CARDENA: A cabalist, about whose life little is known. He wrote a book containing profound secrets" under the title of "Ḳarnayim" (Rays)-see Hab. iii. 4. The work was erroneously ascribed to Isaac b. Abraham I. David, surnamed "the Blind," which fact shows the esteem in which it was held and also the age in which it was written. The author refers at the close of chap. iii, and at the beginning of chaps. v. and vii, to two of his other works, "Kitro Yeshu'ah" (His Crown is Salvation—compare Ps. xxxiii, 16) and Peraḥ Ẓiẓ" (The Blossom of the Priestly Diadem— compare Num. xvii, 23), the titles of which seem to refer to his name, Aaron, as priest. The work "Ḳarnayim" was first published at Zolkiew, in 1709, together with a commentary, "Dan Yadin," by R. Sinon b. Pesaḥ of Astropol, and additions by his nephew, under the title of "Liḳḳuṭe Shoshanim. In 1805 it was republished at Jitomir together with the commentary Parashat Eliezer," by Eliezer Fishel, grandson of R. Isaac of Cracow, and in 1835 it was again published at Leghorn together with the commentary "Ḳeren Ẓebi" and another work." Peraḥ Shoshan," by Samuel b. Joseph Shuruma.

Regarding another work, "Iggeret Ṭ'Teamim." ascribed to our anthor, see Aaron Abrham B. Baruch Simon.

J. L. S.—K.

AARON CHORIN. See Chorin, Aaron.

AARON CUPINO or KUPINO: Talmudist and head of a yeshilah at Constantinople; flourished about the close of the seventeenth century, He was a pupil of Ḥayyim Shabbethai at Salonlea, whence he afterward moved to Constantinople. Here he founded a Tabuudic school, from which were gradu- ated several pupils who afterward acquired notable reputations, among whom were Aaron ben Issac Sason and Isaac Raphael Alfandari. Aaron Cupino maintained a scholarly correspondence with R. Beneveniste (1601-76), the author of the "Keneset ha-Gelolah," and with several other scholars.

Bibliography; Michael, Or ha-Ḥayyim, No, 312, p. 147.

L. G.

AARON BEN DAVID COHEN OF RAGUSA: Rabbi in Ragusa, born about 1580. His maternal grandfather was Solomon Oheb, also rabbi in the same city. Aaron studied in his native city and later in Venice, whence he returned to occupy a pulpit in Ragusa. In 1623 he was imprisoned as a supposed accomplice of Isane Jeshnrún, who had been falsely accused of ritual murder. Rabbi Aaron's sermons, Zeḳan Aharon" (Aaron's Beard), together with his grandfather's sermons, "Shemen ha-Ṭob" (The Good Oil), and the history of Isaac Jeshurun's martyrdom, were published at Venice in 1017, after his death.

Aaron's account of the alleged ritual murder, to- gether with documents from The Ragusa archives. were published in 1882.

Bibliogrpahy: Jellinek, Literaturblatt des orients, vii, 252; Michael, Or ha-Ḥayyim, No. 22; Ralmer's Literaturblatt, 1883.

D.

AARON BEN DAVID HAYYUN. See Ḥayyun, Aaron Ben David.

"AARON, SON OF THE DEVIL": The name given to a portrait or caricature of an English Jew of the year 1277, drawn on a forest-roll of the An image should appear at this position in the text."Aaron, Son of the Devil." county of Essex, in connection with a number of fines imposed on some Jews and Christians who pursued a doe that had escaped from the hounds near the city of Colchester. This was an offense against the forest laws of the time, and a tine had to be paid by a dew who had evaded arrest and who, when he returned, was probably the subject of the caricature.

This caricature is the earliest dated portrait of a Jew, and shows marked Jewish traits. The Jew wears a cowl, a sign that he had no outdoor work to perform and that he belonged to the professional classes; on his upper garments is fixed the English form of a Jewish badge, which was in the shape of the two tables of the Law, in saffron taffeta, six fingerbreadths long and three broad. This differs from all the other forms of the badge, which was generally in the shape of a quoit.

Biblography: Jacobs, Jewish Ideals, pp. 220-203; W. Rye, History of Norfolk, 1887, p. 52; J. R. Green, Short History of the English People, ilus, ed., 1892, i. 393.

J.

AARON IBN EL-BARGARDI. See Bargardi, Aaron Ibn el-.

AARON BEN ELIEZER: German Talmudist, who flourished in the thirteenth century. That he was considered a great man at that time is proved by the actions of his contemporary, R. Meir ben Baruch of Rothenberg, acknowledged to be the greatest rabbinical authority of that age. Of R. Aaron the latter modestly remarks, in one of his responsa (ed. Prague, p. 24. "I must be brief, the matter being under consideration by great men; namely, by the high court of R. Aaron." Abigdor ha-Kohen, chief