Abulafia, Isaac
ABULAFIA, ISAAC
ABULAFIA, ISAAC (d. 1764), talmudist and emissary for Ere? Israel. Abulafia was the son of ?ayyim ben Moses (?) Abulafia. He immigrated with his father to Tiberias in 1740. Active in the rebuilding of Tiberias, he went in 1743 as an emissary for this purpose to Damascus and probably to other places as well. He was appointed by his father to succeed him as rabbi and as leader of the community of Tiberias, and held these offices for 20 years. In 1764 he was appointed by the leaders of the Jerusalem community as a member of a delegation that went to Constantinople to have Ra?amim ha-Kohen removed from office as representative of "Pekidei Ere? Israel be-Kushta" ("The Representatives of the Land of Israel in Constantinople"). On hearing that Ra?amim had already been officially appointed, some of the delegates thought it useless to proceed with the journey. Isaac, however, went to Constantinople and argued the case before Jacob Zonana, head of the "Pekidei Ere? Israel," but Zonana justified the appointment. Isaac was the author of Pa?ad Yi??ak (Moscow Ms. Guenzburg, 29), a comprehensive commentary on the Sefer Yere'im of *Eliezer b. Samuel of Metz. One of his responsa was published in the Ne?peh be-Khesef (1768) of Jonah Navon (pt. 1, ?m, 81a).
bibliography:
M. Benayahu, Rabbi ?.Y.D. Azulai (Heb., 1959), 389–90.