ANAV, BENJAMIN BEN ABRAHAM
- ANAV, BENJAMIN BEN ABRAHAM
- ANAV, BENJAMIN BEN ABRAHAM (c. 1215–c. 1295), Italian scholar
and poet. Anav's teachers included the poet Meir b. Moses of Rome, and
Joab, Daniel, and Isaac of Camerino. His main interest was in
halakhah, but he had a thorough knowledge of mathematics and
astronomy, and was among the most esteemed liturgical poets of his age.
The bulk of his poetry, which he began writing in 1239, is still in
manuscript. The part that has been published reveals him as a poet
sensitive to the events of his time and to the suffering of his people,
which he mourns in his many seliḥot. The themes of his poetry
are historical. Thus, he wrote kinot when the apostate
nicholas donin made his onslaught on the Talmud (1239); when the
Talmud was burned in Italy (1244); when the scrolls of the Torah were
torn and the Jews compelled to wear the badge of shame on their
clothing (1257); and when the Jewish cemetery in Rome was desecrated
(1267). Many of his kinot and seliḥot were
included in the maḥzor of the Italian rite.
His works include Massa Gei Ḥizzayon – a satire in sprightly
rhymed prose on the arrogance of the wealthy and noble which reflects
the life of the affluent Jewish families in his city, Rome (Riva di
Trento, 1560; repr. 1860, 1967); Perush Alfabetin
("Alphabetical Commentary"), on the Aramaic piyutim for the
Feast of Weeks (akdamut ) – the commentary reveals the poet's
knowledge of Italian, Latin, Greek, and Arabic; Sefer Yedidut
– a book of legal decisions, which has been lost; Sha'arei Eẓ
Ḥayyim – a lyrical composition on morals and good character, in
63 stanzas (Prague, 1598; and in Kobez al Jad (1884), 71–74;
the poem was also included in Moses b. Jekuthiel de Rossi's Sefer
ha-Tadir); notes on rashi 's commentary to the Torah; rules
on making a calendar; responsa to R. Avigdor b. Elijah Ha-Kohen: a
prayer book, which included laws of ritual slaughter, and which has been
lost; Sod or Seder ha-Ibbur (on intercalation),
written between the years 1276 and 1294, found in various manuscripts of
the maḥzor according to the Roman rite; and glosses on the
commentary of Solomon b. Shabbetai Anav and on the She'iltot
of R. Aḥa .
-BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Vogelstein-Rieger, 1 (1896), 235–8, 240, 244, 277, 379–82, 452; A.
Berliner, Geschichte der Juden in Rom, 1 pt. 2 (1893), 34,
50, 54; Steinschneider, in: HB, 4 (1861), 57 ff.;
Halberstamm, in: Kobez al-Jad, 4 (1888), nos. 4, 6, 11, 12,
13; S.D. Luzzatto, Mavo le-Maḥzor ke-Minhag Benei Roma
(1856), 22; idem, Iggerot Shadal (1882), 664 ff., 669; idem,
in: Oẓar Tov, 3 (1880), 19; Steinschneider, Cat Bod, no.
4544; Guedemann, Geseh Erz, 2 (1884), 201; S. Bernfeld, Sefer
ha-Dema'ot, 1 (1924), 263 ff.; Davidson, Oẓar, 4 (1933), 372;
Waxman, Literature, 2 (19602), 74–75.
(Yonah David)
Encyclopedia Judaica.
1971.
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