ABRAHAM BEN DANIEL

ABRAHAM BEN DANIEL (1511–1578), Italian rabbi and poet. Abraham, who was born in Modena, was employed as tutor by Jewish families in various Italian cities from 1530. Later, he became rabbi and preacher in Ferrara. He composed numerous religious and liturgical poems. According to his statement these numbered more than 5,000. Some poems deal with autobiographical occasions; others celebrate historical events (e.g., the false accusation against the Jews in Rome, 1555). Several are dedicated to his family and friends, or written as prayers for them. The poems which include elegies and azharot are almost all written in Hebrew, a few, in Aramaic. In 1553 he collected his liturgical and religious poems under the title, Sefer ha-Yashar. Later he prepared a second, larger collection in two volumes, now lost, entitled Sefer ha-Yalkut (this might, however, be the title of another work of his). A third collection (unless it is part of Sefer ha-Yalkut) is in the Montefiore Collection. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Zunz, in: Ha-Palit (1850), 25; Zunz, Lit Poesie, 535; Neubauer, Cat, 1 (1886), 381; H. Hirschfeld, in: JQR, 14   (1901/02), 633; idem, Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew Manuscripts of the Montefiore Library (1904), 82; Fuenn, Keneset, 38; Davidson, Oẓar, 4 (1933), 357; Schirmann, Italyah, 243. (Umberto (Moses David) Cassuto)