?AGIZ

?AGIZ , family of Spanish origin which immigrated to Morocco after the expulsion decrees of 1492, and settled in Fez, where some of its representatives were at the head of the Castilian community of Megorashim ("the exiled"). abraham ?agiz (i) (d. before 1563) arrived in Fez with the Spanish exiles when still very young. He was brought up and educated there and is the signatory of a takkanah of 1545. samuel ?agiz (i) (d. c. 1570) was probably the younger brother of Abraham; his grandson, Samuel ?agiz (ii), in his Mevakkesh ha-Shem mentions some of his grandfather's biblical commentaries and credits him with directing an important yeshivah, as is also confirmed by his disciple, Samuel b. Saadiah ibn Danan. In the takkanot of Fez, Samuel's signature is almost always found together with those of the other Castilian rabbis and it also appears on ordinances and decisions of the years 1545, 1559, and 1568. jacob ?agiz (d. 1634), a signatory of the Castilian takkanot of Fez between 1588 and 1608 (cf. Kerem ?emed; s.v.Malkhei Rabbanan), is probably the son of Samuel ?agiz (i) and not the grandfather of Jacob *?agiz, the author of Halakhot Ketannot. There is a controversy about this relationship which has not been resolved (J. Ben-Naim in his Malkhei Rabbanan completely confuses the two). samuel ?agiz (ii) left Fez, his birthplace, about 1590, remained for some time in Tripoli, North Africa, then traveled to Venice where, in 1597, he published Mevakkesh ha-Shem, sermons on the Pentateuch, and Devar Shemu'el, a homiletic commentary on Deuteronomy. He then immigrated to Ere? Israel and settled in Jerusalem. abraham ?agiz (ii), signatory of decisions in Fez dated 1638, 1640, and 1647, remained in Morocco after the departure of Samuel (ii), probably his older brother. Members of the family also settled in Ere? Israel.

bibliography:

J. Ben-Naim, Malkhei Rabbanan (1931), 10b, 16b, 65b, 72a, 123a; J.M. Toledano, Ner ha-Ma'arav (1911), 80, 83, 102–4, 110, 134.

[Haim Zafrani]