ABULAFIA, SAMUEL BEN MEIR HA-LEVI
- ABULAFIA, SAMUEL BEN MEIR HA-LEVI
- ABULAFIA, SAMUEL BEN MEIR HA-LEVI (c. 1320–1361), Spanish
financier, communal leader, and philanthropist. Abulafia's generosity
provided a number of Jewish communities in Castile with synagogues,
including the magnificent one still standing in Toledo (later the Church
of El Tránsito) with florid Hebrew inscriptions in his honor. The
synagogue was built by his order in 1357. This splendid synagogue was
the best illustration of the status of Castilian Jewry in general, and
of his prestigious position in particular. He was versatile in the Torah
and was known as an observant Jew. At first steward of the estates of
the king's tutor Don Juan Alfonso de Albuquerque, Abulafia later became
treasurer and adviser of Pedro the Cruel of Castile. Many royal
documents are signed by him in Hebrew with his seal, containing a
castle, the emblem of Castile. During the revolt of the grandees in 1354
he was one of Pedro's principal supporters. Abulafia did much to
reinforce the power of the monarchy in its struggle against the nobility
by improving the financial state of the kingdom. He ordered an inquiry
into the activities of the tax farmers and appointed in their place
reliable persons, who were often his own relatives or other Jews; in
addition he confiscated the property of the rebel nobles and amassed
considerable wealth in two of the royal fortresses. He also served as a
diplomat, being sent in 1358 to Portugal to negotiate a political
agreement between the two kingdoms. In 1360 Pedro suddenly ordered
Abulafia's arrest, whereupon he was brought to Seville and there
tortured to death. His enormous fortune was confiscated, as well as that
of his relatives. Samuel's imposing residence in Toledo, which still
stands, is today the El Greco museum.
-BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Baer, Urkunden, II, Nos 187; 171, 205, 223,
180; Neuman, Spain, index; F. Cantera Burgos, Sinagogas
Españolas (1955), 56–149; Cantera-Millás, Inscripciones, 336ff.,
367–8; C. Roth, in: Sefarad, 8 (1948), 3–22. ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. León Tello, Judíos de Toledo
(1979), 1, 137ff.; 2, 1399–44.
(Zvi Avneri)
Encyclopedia Judaica.
1971.
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