Abraham ben Avigdor

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ABRAHAM BEN AVIGDOR

ABRAHAM BEN AVIGDOR (d. 1542), rabbi and author. For 20 years, Abraham served as the rabbi of Prague. One of his pupils was Abraham Jaffe, the father of Mordecai *Jaffe. In 1534 Abraham and the famous shtadlan Joseph (Joselmann) of Rosheim framed 23 takkanot designed to adjudicate an inter-communal dispute in Bohemia and to restore harmony in the community. After the expulsion of the Jews from Bohemia in 1541, Abraham composed the seliḥah beginning "Anna Elohei Avraham," recited in the Polish ritual on Yom Kippur. According to David *Gans, Abraham had a knowledge of "all the seven sciences." His works included (1) glosses on the Tur Oraḥ Ḥayyim by Jacob b. Asher, published in Prague and Augsburg both in 1540; (2) a supercommentary on Rashi's Bible commentary, quoted in the Devek Tov of Simeon Ossenburg, and in Minḥat Yehudah by Judah Leib b. Obadiah Eilenburg (1609); (3) decisions, quoted by Moses Isserles and Joel Sirkes.

bibliography:

Zunz, Lit Poesie, 390; Zunz, Poesie, 57; Michael, Or, no. 31–32; K. Lieben, Gal Ed (1856), no. 121 (Heb. section 64–65; Ger. section 57–58); Landshuth, Ammudei, 2; Kracauer, in: rej, 16 (1888), 92; S. Hock, Familien Prags (1892), 396, n. 2; Davidson, Oẓar, 1 (1924), 279, no. 6111.

[Yehoshua Horowitz]

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