ATTAR, JUDAH BEN JACOB (IBN)

ATTAR, JUDAH BEN JACOB (IBN) (known as "Rabbi al-Kabbir" (the great teacher); 1655–1733), talmudic scholar in Morocco. Attar was born in Fez and at a young age he was appointed head of the Moroccan dayyanim, after refusing to accept any remuneration for this function. He earned his living in trade and devoted his life to the well-being of his coreligionists. In collaboration with his disciple, Jacob Abensur, he published the takkanot of the first Spanish exiles in Fez and drew up new regulations which continued to serve as the basis of Judeo-Moroccan jurisprudence. His published works include Minḥat Yehudah on the Pentateuch (1940); customs and practices of Fez regarding terefot published in Mekor Ḥayyim (1897). Many responsa were published in Mishpat u-Ẓedakah le-Ya'akov (pt. 1–1894, pt. 2–1903) and others appear in works of various Moroccan rabbis. Many of Attar's writings still exist in manuscript including a commentary on Midrash Rabbah. Attar's grandson, judah b. obed (1725–1812), was a dayyan in Fez and among other works wrote Zikkaron li-Venei Yisrael, on the persecution of the Jews in Morocco during 1790–1792. Several excerpts from this work have been published.

bibliography:

Azulai, 1 (1852), 67, no. 55, s.v.Yehudah Attar; J.M. Toledano, Ner ha-Ma'arav (1911), passim; J. Ben-Naim, Malkhei Rabbanan (1931), 46–50; Judah Attar, Minḥat Yehudah (1940), preface; G. Vajda, Recueil de textes historiques judéo-marocains (1951), 79–96.

[David Obadia]