Meyuḥas, Abraham ben Samuel
MEYUḤAS, ABRAHAM BEN SAMUEL
MEYUḤAS, ABRAHAM BEN SAMUEL (d. 1767), rabbi and kabbalist in *Jerusalem, his birthplace. Abraham studied under Israel Meir Mizraḥi in the Yeshivah Bet Ya'akov founded by Jacob Israel Pereira, and married the daughter of Tobias *Cohn. His life was one of suffering and affliction. He was orphaned as a child and lost his sight at the age of 30. Abraham was the author of Sedeh ha-Areẓ; homilies on the Torah, in three parts (pts. 1 and 2, Salonika, 1784, 1798; pt. 3, Leghorn, 1788); Diglo Ahavah, a commentary on the Derekh Eẓ ha-Ḥayyim of Isaac *Luria: it was arranged by Meir *Poppers and included the latter's own work, Or Zaru'a; Ha-Ma'or ha-Katan, on the Eẓ Ḥayyim by Ḥayyim *Vital; and Si'aḥ ha-Sadeh, on the Kavvanot ("Meditations") of Isaac Luria, together with homilies and notes. Raphael *Meyuḥas was his brother. One of Abraham's sons, Benjamin Moses (d. 1804), was responsible for publishing part 1 of Sedeh ha-Areẓ, and another, Joseph Jacob, an emissary of the *Hebron community, published the other two parts while engaged on his missions.
bibliography:
Michael, Or, 121, no. 253; Frumkin-Rivlin, 2 (1928), 118; 3 (1929), 86, 90–91; Yaari, Sheluḥei, 556–7, 598; idem, Meḥkerei Sefer (1958), 138–9.
[Abraham David]