Abbas, Moses Abbreviations
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
39
ABBAS, YOM-TOB BEN JONAH: tioiuil
and
ill
the rcspunsa of
.Iiuhili licii
Asia
Men
r (fols.
II.
nr,).
30
II.
ABBASI (IBN ABBASI), JACOB BEN MOSES IBN (iTiniicuusly, 'Aksa) rniiishitor (.1
mill siImpI;ii. wild lliHiiislii-il in llio .stcuinl half nf the His father. lliiitcfiitli ciiiliiry at. Ihusia, Spain.
.Moses
ilju
Aiiliasi the ilartvr (the
pnn3. whieh ean only mean
son sii;ns himself
f^npTI 3"in ),
wns
sur-
nameil Heilersi, wliieh niiijht imlieate thai the Abliasi family eanie from Be/.iers, in southern France, .laeoh traiislated (about l^DH) Maimonicles' commentary on Seder Nasliim, from the Aiabie into Heblew. He preli.Ked to the translation a jihilosophical disciuisilioii on Eeel. vii. '^'2. in which he makes a clear distinction lii't ween worldly kiiowlcd;;e, whieh is bounded by the liniilatioii of human understand-
and the knowledge of thinLs Jewish meaning by this the study of tiie Law. w hicli isopen toeverybody. The Law, it is true, has its own mysteries. which can be understood by a few only of the elect, in;;,
who are versed in the Cabala. Hut the real Torali consists only of the Law together with its elucidation ill Talmudic literature; and this every mortal Clin comprehend. A translator of Mainionidcs. a stinhnt of thi' " .Moreh Nebiikim." a scholar familiar Willi the works of I'hito and Aristotle, and, tinally, an admirc'r of the mystics as well as a strict Talmudist. Abbasi is a fair illustration of the spirit w hich pervaded the Spanish Jews at the end of the Asa rabbinical authority, Jlaithirteeiitlicentury. inoiiides was unreservedly acknow lidgeil by the Spanish Jews, but as a iihilosopher he was iiushcd into the backjiroiiiid by the iriuniphant march of mysticism. The Arabic oriifinal not being accessible, it is iiiipo.ssible to judge of Abbasi's jiowers as II translator. His Hebrew seems to be weak, but it is clear; and. unlike the tninslators of the other parts of the Mislmah commentary of Maimonides, Abbasi left no .rabie word untranslated. From his scholarly correspondence with .Solomon bell Adrel, the greatest Talmudic authority of the time, it appears that Abbasi po.sses.sed a fair Talmudic knowledge. One of Adret's letti'rs. a conimendation of his literary activity, was reproduced by Abbasi in the preface to liis translation. Iliiii.inoR.vrilv: Ailnelh. pp.
Jiw.
Hiilihi .s'n/oiiin lirn
t'erii's.
.1.
I(i,(iil;
(JiKiii. Iti:i .l.
Sl.liisiliiii'liler,
Ahraliam hni
}Iehr. I'cherg. p.
L.
ABBASI, JOSEPH he
where,
ill
and
1)24
- KI.
was
G.
A wealthy Jew
of Oporto, farmer of taxes for the city
terriioiy.
its
'-'>',ii.
Hiiii.iniiKAi'iiv p. till;
.1.
.. lie
>tt'n(I('.i 1..-M
lt|..s.
io
Ut'imMlio-i, ./i(f((*w
llM'iii.i
ilr (-.»
rm
Jmliim.
Pttrtuu^^l,
II. :.T11.
M. K.
treme borders of the empire, Bagdad was allowed to retain a Jewish community. It is nol to be inferred that under the Abbassids the Jews enjoyed continual peace. They suffered not only from the incessant civil wars and revolutions, but ancient and forgotten restrictions and liiiniiliatious were occasionally renewed. Hanin alUaschid (Ts(i-S()i)) revived Omar's regulation ordering non-Moslems to wear distinguishing marks ou their clothing (see H.MWK), and forbidding lliein to ride horses. Although these regulations fell into
disuse under the next califs, they were renewed with great vigor under the reactionary Al-Miitawakkil
who caused many synagogues to be converted into mosques, and levied tithes on the houses of non.Moslems. Yet uiuler Al-.Mutadhid (892-902) manyJews were employed in the service of the state. The decline of the feni|ioral power of the califs, which occurred before the end of the tenth century, could not fail to alTect the fate of the Jews in the eastern portions of the empire, becau.se the viziers, and afterward the sultans, were too much occupied with other cares to trouble themselves about the Jews (see CmsAWEs). Hagchid, especially, sullered heavily; yet in the middle of the twelfth century its (8.50),
Jewish community numbered one thousand families, The calif while that of Mosul was even larger. Mohaninied alMuklali (lliilMid) miide Bagdad the seat of the exilarch. who became the recognized head of nearly all the Jew s of the Abbassid empire. This favorable state of things was due mainly to the toh'rant reign of the Seljuk sultans, es])ecially Zengi, Xur-ed-Din, ami Saladiu (see also Ai.itov).
H. Hii;
ABBAYE:
I
le
Solomon da
Uiiu,ii)i:r.vI"I|V: Mielmel, <ir lnt-Iliiuiiim,
xiv.
Til).
ABBASSID CALIFS:
The
"Hebr. Uibl." M. K.
posiiion of the Jews iluiiiiL' the liM' eeiiliiries of the domination of the .bba.ssiil Califs (7oO-l'J.'>S) dilTcred from that under their preileces.sors, the Oliiiniads, as the Aba.s.sids were troubled by no fears that Jewish inlliience Would check the spread of Islam. The foun<lation of Magilad by Al'>laiisiir (the second .Vbluissid Calif) brought the seat of ^loslem governinenl in close proximity to the two eeiilers of .lewish spiritual life. Contniry to the policy of Sura and I'imibedita. the larlier califs, who removed the Jews to the ex-
Tal
No. 20.
M. B.
AB BET DIN
("Father of the court of justice"): 1. Title, according to some seholai-s. of the judge next in authority to the ixin (prince or president), and who would, accordingly, be viceOn the disputi'd quespresident of the Sanhedrin. tion of the rel;ition of he .Vb bet din to the nasi, I
see X.si. 2. In recent times, the title of the chief assessor at the labbinical court. K.
ABBREVIATIONS
'I'lie oldest term for ab: breviation, r("'""',-'J = i(.7«/i(Mir, is found in lannailic literature as early as 150 n.c. (Krauss. " Lelinwiirter," ii.
Termi-
(
I'ieni(.scc Steinscbnciiler,
See Ainvt;.
ABBAYE OF CONSTANTINOPLE:
Disciple of Rabbi ben Solomon of N'aleiieia and Tudela UiTsi. corresponded w ith Isaac ben .'^heshet and the poet
l;i-dai
aiiiora.
muclie scholar of the sixleeiith eeiituiy. lie carried on a learned concspondence with Samuel di .Medina lDTL""inD). ralibi of Salonica. who refers to him as the "greatest of our teachers." He wrote also a preface to Moses Xagara's " Lekah Tob," Coustautinople, 1.574.
ABBASI (ABBAS), MOSES: 1
.Vii
nology.
.«.!•.
Bacher. "Die .lteste Termi-
.Vutlmrities of the third nologie"). century iisi'alsolheterm "r" (later '") = aijfiiiov (aceoriling to Krauss, " Lelin-
wiirter." and "? I"??, Yoma, 3TA; Git. *'"")• ""iL f'"" a certain kinil of abbreviation, !'.""'? (Yoniii, 3Si; In the foiirlli ceiilurv is met the expri'sGit. ill.). sioii ^"-'f ¥'•<? (Tan. Ex., ed.'Buber, fol. Wri), a term which must have been in conimoii iis<>. since the Maghrebi .rabic ru'in hiinif is borniweil fiiun
common cxiiressi.ni later literature llie Ill ^Z -'•'"; (heads of words>, lii-st found in the "^^-^ -rp (ends of .Masoni, and, for anoiher kind. words) ( FrensdorIT, "Die Masora Magna." glo.s.saryi. Elias I.,evita. the first writer on the subject, refers
it.
is
to Abbreviations as
rr-'r^?
"'""^1
s-'J-fn l-T"^
