AGHMATI, ZECHARIAH BEN JUDAH

AGHMATI, ZECHARIAH BEN JUDAH (late 12th and early 13th centuries), North African talmudist. He apparently came from Agmat in southern Morocco. His name has only recently become known, and there are hardly any data on his life and work. Aghmati wrote a comprehensive work, Sefer ha-Ner, on the halakhot of alfasi . He uses geonic material extensively and quotes statements of baruch b. samuel of aleppo , hananel , isaac ibn ghayyat and joseph ibn migash , for which Sefer ha-Ner is sometimes the sole source. The book also quotes from other early scholars, among them Ashkenazi luminaries, such as Rashi and gershom b. judah . The variant versions of the Talmud quoted by Aghmati are of great importance. The author himself seldom introduces his own opinion. His commentaries on the tractates Berakhot (Jerusalem, 1958), Bava Kamma, Bava Meẓia, and Bava Batra (London, 1961, facsimile edition) have been published, while those on Shabbat and Eruvin are still in manuscript. His book was probably completed between 1188 and 1190. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.D. Ben-Shem (ed.), Sefer ha-Ner li-Verakhot (1958), introd.; J. Leveen (ed.), Digest … compiled by Zechariah b. Judah Aghmati (1961), introd. (Israel Moses Ta-Shma)