Abraham ben Josiah Troki
ABRAHAM BEN JOSIAH TROKI
ABRAHAM BEN JOSIAH TROKI (1636–1687), Karaite poet and mystic; son of the physician Josiah b. Judah b. Aaron of Troki, Lithuania, who was a disciple of the famous Jewish scholar and kabbalist, Joseph Solomon *Delmedigo from Candia. According to A. *Firkovich, Abraham was the personal physician of King Jan iii Sobieski of Poland and of Grand Duke Sigismund ii. Abraham was one of the leaders of the Karaite communities of Lithuania and one of the signatories to the decisions of their assemblies.
His writings include (1) Beit Avraham, a collection of mystical treatises; (2) Beit ha-Oẓar, a medical work completed in 1672 (manuscript in St. Petersburg, Evr. i 733); (3) Massa ha-Am, seven treatises whose content is uncertain (according to J. *Fürst, they describe the condition of the Jews and Judaism); Firkovich reports that Abraham personally translated this work into Latin and sold it to the Dominican Order in Vilna; (4) Pas Yed'a, miscellaneous treatises (perhaps a 17th-century anti-Christian Rabbanite treatise Pas Yed'a Katava, written by Yehudah Briel, which Abraham owned or copied); (5) Sefer Refu'ot (manuscript in St. Petersburg, Evr. i 732), a medical work, also containing information on the history of the Jews in Lithuania; S. *Poznanski identifies this with a collection of medical prescriptions in Latin mentioned by Fürst and Firkovich; (6) three liturgical poems, one appearing in a Karaite prayer book (ed. Vilna, vol. 4, p. 102) and two in manuscript. Abraham is not to be confused with *Abraham b. Josiah Yerushalmi.
bibliography:
E. Carmoly, Histoire des médecins juifs (1844), 187; I.M. Jost, Geschichte der Israeliten, 2 (1820), 371; A.B. Gottlober, Bikkoret le-Toledot ha-Kara'im (1865), 151–4; Finn, Keneset, 29; A. Neubauer, Aus der Petersburger Bibliothek (1866), 72, 128, 130; Fuerst, Karaeertum, 3 (1869), 30, 94, 168; Mann, Texts, 2 (1935), index, 1529.
[Jakob Naphtali Hertz Simchoni /
Golda Akhiezer (2nd ed.)]