VAEZ, ABRAHAM

VAEZ, ABRAHAM (d. 1694?), French Sephardi rabbi. Vaez was the earliest-known ḥazzan and ḥakham of the Nefuẓot Yehudah community formed by ex-Marranos at Bayonne and is probably to be identified with the R. Abraham "Davan" (a misreading of Da Vaez) who died there on July 29, 1694. His works include Arbol de Vidas (Amsterdam, 1692), a handbook on Jewish religious law and practice in Spanish, followed by a sermon on human frailty, with a commendatory poem by Abraham Rodriguez Faro; Discursos predicables y avisos espirituales (Amsterdam, 1710), moral sermons, published after his death by his son, Jacob, with an introduction by Isaac (de Mattatia?) aboab . He also contributed a commendatory letter to the Historia Sacra Real by Isaac Acosta, who subsequently succeeded him at Bayonne. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, Bibl, 107f.; M. Schwab, Rapport sur les Inscriptions Hébraïques de la France (1904), 374 (232). (Cecil Roth)