Title page of Orim Gedolim, 1758

Abraham Israel Ze'evi (Hebrew: אברהם ישראל זאבי; 1650–1731) was an rabbi and Talmudist of Hebron.

Life

Israel Ze'evi was born in Hebron in 1651.[1] He was a great-grandson of the Jerusalemite rabbi Israel ben Azariah Ze'evi,[2] and grandson of the Moroccan kabbalist Abraham Azulai.[1][3] His father died when he was but four years old, and he was educated by his mother[1] and uncle, Isaac Azulai.[4] At the age of eighteen he married a daughter of Abraham Cuenqui.[5] His cousin, Abraham ben David Yitzhaki, the Chief Rabbi of Palestine, would later marry his daughter.[6]

From 1701 to 1731, Ze'evi was chief rabbi of Hebron[7] where he headed the "Emeth le-Ya'akov" yeshivah which had been founded by Abraham Pereira of Amsterdam.[2] It was the oldest such college still functioning in Hebron at the turn of the 20th century.[7] He also acted as an emissary of Hebron, visiting Constantinople in 1685,[2] where he met Tzvi Ashkenazi.[8]

Works

  • Orim Gedolim ('The Great Lights'; Smyrna, 1758), a treatise on rabbinical law which included Talmudic novellae, sermons and responsa.[5]
  • Or li-Yesharim, a collection of homilies.

References

  1. 1 2 3  Grünhut, Lazarus (1906). "Zeebi, Israel". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 651.
  2. 1 2 3 Encyclopaedia Judaica. Encyclopaedia Judaica. 1972. p. 636. ISBN 978-965-07-0185-7.
  3.  Ginzberg, Louis; Deutsch, Gotthard; Porter, A. (1902). "Azulai, Azulay". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 375–377.
  4. Roth, Cecil (1972). Encyclopaedia Judaica. p. 1015.
  5. 1 2 Gaon, Moses David (1928). Yehude ha-mizrah be-Erets Yiśraʼel (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Ezriel. p. 282.
  6. Ze'evi, Abraham Israel (2003). Urim Gedolim. Lakewood: Mishnas Rebbi Aaron. p. i.
  7. 1 2 Hebron, Jewish Encyclopedia.
  8. חכמי חברון לדורותם Archived 2012-04-06 at the Wayback Machine.
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