Aaron ben Fhinebas Aaron Worms
AARON BEN PHINEHAS ml"
Mnnliir of ihr
mmcI iip|iciirs in llml ciipiicity iinmiij; llic raliliis wlio liml to (Ucidi' a nisc nihliiiiiinl CMllci.-
"!' I.i
20
THE JEWISH ENCYCLUl'EDIA
r;;.
iimlrimonial law with npinl tii llii' innriiaKcof llic of a man who had lucii killed by the bands Aaron dli-d at LinilxTg, June 2(1, of CiiMlKi.NiiKi. ill
widow Ui.">l.
Wn
ii /in-Ezni/ii. rfsiMinHiiii.iof;RAPnv; Almiimm Itapciport, siim No. Sl.Oslnv. IT'.W: liiilwT. AiikIic Slifin, p. i!. CnKow,
•'*»••
A. H.
AARON OF PINSK:
1).
liabbi in Kntiiiirin. in
.'civiiiimiui nl Knviin, aiiil afUTwanl wlicic he died in isll. lliwrolc "Tosal'ol Ahai'on." in which he altcinptcd In solve Ihe ((iiestioiis of the Tosjdists in various Talinndic treatises, notably in Zira'im. Jlo'ed. and Xiddah. The book. wliirli contains also scholastic and cabalistic di.scourses, was ininted in 18.18. WaldPn, Slum ha-OalnUm he-Hadanh.p. 19, Biiil.l(>f:R.PllY No. 12i. Warsaw. ISTii: Benjaoot). <mtr ha-Scfarim, p. isai. in I'insk,
till'
nacular
Hebrew
lieu of thi'
in
in the daily prayers.
His" IJebliche Tetilah.od<r (ircflige Artznei vorGuf (A Lovely Pniyer.or a Tonic f(n- Body uii Xeshamah and Soul). Pnuikforl on" the .Slain. 170!). though not
first .luda'o-CJerinan adaptation of the prayerbook, was original in thai il sought to give a literary form to the vernacular version, by amplifying <-onThe obsidcrably lhc> original te.xt of the prayers. ject of the writer is clearly expressed in the intmduclion to the book, namely, to bring about the
the
substitution of this Jiida'o (Jerman version for Ihe Hebrew te.xt in those spheres in which the "Holy Language" was no longer nnderslood. Aaron's altein|il failed: for the orthodox .lews iirotesteil so vigorously against the innovation that Ihe rabbis throughoiit tiie Palatinate placed the book under the ban. And so ((uickly and .so well was the order of the rabbis obeved, that not a copy of the "Liebliehe Tefilah" could be found till aboii"t 18.30, when large numbers of the work were discovered in the synagogue lofts of Hesseu.
I).
Bilil.incRAPiiv:
AARON SABAONI ('Jiynon): AUmi/.'s
eMliali-~lie
which he ailded
Editor of IMoscs "llekal ha-Kodesh." to
lilnal,
miles. and
which was piinled
in .Vni-
Il is conjeclnn-d that he was named >>~>'.i. after the city of Salihionetta; hut in the seventeenth century he "resided in Sale. and. with Jacob Saspoitas, participated in the condemnation of the followers of Shal)i)elliai Zebi for refnsins to keep the four chief fast-(hiys, on the ground that the Jlessiah had already arrived.
sterdam.
Dim.iocRAPiiv
Benjacob.
(ttfir
ha-Srfnriin, p.
1.3(i.
AARON BEN SAMUEL:
Hebrew
AARON BEN SAMUEL
pp.
111(1.
Karpcles, Gf«fli.
il.
Jllit.
Lit. 11.1014; Zunz,
ITIl, 44(1.
W. M.
AARON SAMUEL. See KAVDANOWKU.A.UtoNSAMl AARON SAMUEL BEN MOSES SHALOM l
I
OFKREMNITZ:
.ulh.>ror ".Nislmiat
.ilam,"
Hill, which conlaiiis dissertations on the nature of the soul. ])urpose of man's existence, the fu-
Hanau.
ture world, and rewards and punishments. Bini.iORRAPnY: Mlohapl, Or ho-tfiii/j/im. No. 318; Benjacnh,
1).
AARON BEN SAMUEL HA-NASI
autlior;
nourished in (.iennaiiy during the He luiblatter half of the seventeenth century. lished his " Bet Aharon " (.Varon's House) at Frankfort on-the-Oder in Hi!t(l, beiiij; at that time of ad vancedage. This work, which received theaii])roval of the greatest rabbinic authorities of Ihe time, gives the places in the Talmud, the Mi<lrashim. the Zohar, and many other rabliinic and cabalistic works where each verse of the Bibl(! is eitlu'r cited or explained. Although Aaron owes much to his predicessors (Aaron of Pesiiro. Jacob Sasporliis. Manasseh ben Is niel. and others), his work, because of its comjileteness. is a monument of remarkable industry and wide reading. In the introduction he states that he spent ten long years at the work, although assisted by several .scholars who lived with him for this purpose. In this introduction Aaron mentions three of his other works, which, however, seem to have been lost: (1) "8issera Torah." a midrashic commentary on Judges, iv. V. (2) " Ilibliur Masora." a midra.sliic commentary on the Masora, of which he gives several specimens; and (3) "Shaloah Manot," a short commentary on the treatise Megillah. At the request of his wife. Aaron translated into Judico-Gerraan the Midrash on the death of Moses, "Petirat Mosheh Shein 'Olam." Frankfort-on-thc Oder, 1G93. This book was very popular with the Jewish women of Poland and Russia, and has gone thixmgh many editions. Aaron must have reached a very great age; for in 1701 he iniblished a commentary on "Perek Sliirah," which is appended to a l)rayer-book printed that year in Berlin (see Stciuschneider, "Cat. Bodl," Nos. 4000 and 4380), L. G. A simple farmer of Hergershausen lllesseii). wlin was the first person in (Jerinany to attempt, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, to bring about the use of the verKVii).
II.
(tznr tut-Sffitrim, p. 4(W.
A. B. bnrn about
'/..
alsii
Abu Aaron ben Samuel ha-Nasi
lonia)
.V
]iersonage
who was
h-.IIoI
of Baby-
considered uniil
ic-
ceiitly a lieliliouscrealion of the Tradilionists (Zuiiz) those who, in their desire to liml ic'aeliers and originators for everything, invented him in order to
—
announce him as the father of prayer-interpretation and mysticism. Bui the publication of the "Chronicle of Ahimaaz " (written in 1054), by Neubau<-r, has demonstrateil that Aaron is not altogether a It is true that legend has far more thanhistory to .sjiy about him. and that only the barest outlines of his real career arc Aaron was the son of a high dignitary accessilile. in Bal)ylonia, a certain Samuel, who, according to In Ihe R, Eliezer of Worms, was a nasi (prince). "Chronicle of Ahimaaz" Aaron is said to have been a member of the house of Joab. which means that he was the son of an ab bet din, or chief of the cotirt of justice; since in Jewish legend C^'er. Mak. ii. ;^1"; tan., .Mas'ey, 1'-') Joabis referred lo as Disagreethe chief justice in the reign of David. ments between father and son. about the middle of the ninth century, caused Aaron to leave home.
creature of the imagination.
He traveled through Palestine to Italy, and landing at Gaeta went to Benevento. He did not stay there long, but went to Oria. in southern Italy, the In that center of "Jewish life in Italy at that time. place he associateil with the learned l)rothers. Sheunder whose phatiah and Hananeel. sonsof .Vmittai. fostering influence he taught successfully— a vocation for w Inch his profound knowledge of the Law, acquired in Babylonia, seemed especially to fit him. Aaron's activity bore fruit not only in Italy, but also beyond the borders of that country. Among his pupils were numbered Mosi'S ben Kalonymus of Lucca, who, under one of Charlemagne's successors, went to the land of the Franks (Mentz), and there became the spiritual head of the Jews in that coun-
