Abraham
Ana'w,
Tin; .IKWISII
Aucestor Woisliip
ANAW, ABRAHAM BEN JKHIEL HA-
ROFE uiiii;
I'liy^iriaii Mini lulilii in Kn[iii- at
llic
lii
was
llic
I'ullicT
of the
lie
tliiilcHlitli (Tlitiirv.
Zeilekiali, autlKir of "Sliibbole
111
15(11 jiimiu,
I.
Im-LeHet," and of
2ill, ;tr4 ((
ff'cw/i.
<l.
Jinlni in
B.
ABRAHAM: A
coiiMiHiUalnr of the thiiicrnlh ({iitui'v; older brother of Zetlekiiih b. Perhaps the most gifted and learned of Aliraliani. Although chieliy a his Honian eouteiiiporaries. lioet. Auaw ])ossesse<i a thoioujih mastery of halakie literature, and diligently sludiid philology, niatheile wielded a keen, satirimalies, and astronomy, Jlis poetical aetivily began in V^'i'.K when eal pen. the apostate Nicholas Douin assjuled the Talmud and appealed to Pope Gregory IX. to order its dePostruction and the iierseeution of its students. nin'sa.gitalioii tilled the HoniiUi Jews with terror, and they seem to have appointed a day for fasting and prayer. At that time and possibly for that fast-
—
composed the
mTj6 nOUN. "To whom
penitential
hymn
shall I tlee for
'O
help"
px
—an
bv tlu' Society DoJlekize Nirdandm in " Kobe/, 'al Yad." 1SH8). nin's endeavors met meanwhile with great success. In .Tune. l',3:i!l. several wagon-loads of Talmudic manuscripts were burned in Paris and Konw: at the latter place the Jewish cemetery was destroyed. These events stirred the poet to a bitter elegy acrostic of twelve stanzas (published
mi-p n^'mx. "My heart is convidsed" (ib.). which he di'e]ilv laments the fate of Israel ami ]iassionately appeals to God to avenge the desecra'lb in
tion of the dead.
Anaw wrote numerous poems for the liturgy .which arc still
in ]iarl in the Komaii .Mal.i/.or. partly lie is the author of the e.xtant in manuseripl,
embodied
following works: (I) JVtn N'J XL"D (The Burden of the Valley of Vision), a satirical ))oem directed against the arrogance of the wealthy and the nobility (Hiva di Trento, l.JGO; reprinted, Lemberg, IH.jO, by 31. AVolf, in his Hebrew chreslomalhy. ^XTC" HIT'DT (Israel's
Praises).
(3)
I'D'as^X "'S
(Al|ilialictieal
C'onnnentary). on the Aramaic pieces of the Pentecost liturgy. In this treatise he exhibits a knowled.u'e of Italian, 'ijiltin. Greek, and Araliic. C.i) ".SeferVedidut " (Hook of Friendship), a ritualistic work, which has disappeared. It is mentioned by Anaw in the preface to his abridgment of ICIiczer ben Samtiel's "Sefer Yereim," (4) " Sha-are 'Ez llayyim " (The Gates Conducting to the Tree of Life), a work on practical ethics, in the form of moral sayings. The poem contains sixty-three strophes, arranged according to Each chapter deals with the letters of the alphabet. one virtue or one vice. .Vmong the sulj jects treated are love, hospitality, faithfidness, cheating, thankfulness, shame, pride, charity. It PraiTue, 151W (Zunz. "Z. G," ji, 280),
"Kobez
Yad"
was
i»rinlcd in in 1884, i. 71
and reprinted
(ed, Mekiz<' Xiniamini. Glosses to Kashi's commentary on the Solomon b. Shabbethai's commentary Bible and to on the "Shel'ltot." (0) "Rules for Making a Calendar," in which he utilizes his matheniatical and as tronomieal knowledge. This manuscript served .sevend later writers on the sam<^ subject, Auaw was in corri'spondence with iVBionoit Cohen, to whom he addressed numerous halakic questions. He himself gave many halakin decisions, which are referred to in his brother's work, "Shibbole ha-Leket." Despite his wide learning. Auaw remained a child of his age. He shared many of its superstitions, et «('/.).
'al
(o)
was
opposed to all changes in the liturgy. discu.ssed with his brother Zedekiah the lan-
strictly
He even
guage of the
angels.
/{i.Hi,
1.
- r9
( (
Ormh. ilcr Judrn in SH'liischiieldcr, ( Vi(. nnrll. No. 4JH ; Ziiiiz, pp. XiS il «(;.; I.uiidshiilli, 'Ammuilr lin-
« I/.;
Litrrnliiriimrli,
liliiiuirul pint, 'ralrim(li>l, anil
— Anaw
vigorously defended haggadie interpretations, and
BiBLIOfiRAPIIY: VoRplsteln and R|p(rer.
mq.
ANAW, BENJAMIN
day
568
liluigicul poet.
11
Bibliography: VoRolsteln and RIeger, linm.
j,nii
ENCYCLOPEDIA
'.*l/wM*^abbalh. Iienedictions. new moon, feast of dediealion. Piirim. Passover, semi holy days, fasts. Xew-ycar. I)ay of Atonement, and 'I'abcniaclcs, Appeuilcil to the work iire several treatises :inil lesponsji on miscclliuieous religious and le.iral matters, such as circumcision, mourning riles, fringes, slaughtering, inheritanee.and interest. As the title indicates, and as the author never fails to point out, the work was culled from many older authorities, such as "Ihilakot (Jcilolot," " Pardes," All'asi. Isaac b, Abba M:iri, Zerahiah ha-Levi, Isaiah di Train, etc. To tlii'se extracts from other iiuthiirities the work owes its vogue. The preface, written in a pureanil vigorous Hebrew, is introduced by a short acrostic. But Zedekiah did not restrict himself to the mere work of a com|)iler. He systematized his material skilfully,gaveitaconciseas well as popular form, and judiciously iliscrimin:iled between eonllicting opinions ;iud decisions, giving ]iieferencc to those that seemed to him true. For this procciluie he apologized modest ly ill his )ireface with an aiiceilote, in substantially the following Icrms: A pliilo.sii|ilier, when asked how he dared to ojipose the great men of the past, answered, "We fully acknowleilge the greatness of our old authorities and the insigniticance of ourselves. But we are in the jiositioii of iiygmies that ride on the shoulders of giants. Pygmies though we are. wc sec farther than the giants when we u.se their Unowlcdge and experience," Ailililions to the "Shibbole ha-Leket" were made by Zedekiah himself, in a work the title of which is no longer known: these ailditionsalso contain a large number of responsa. It is usually cited, howi'ver, as "Issurwa-I letter "(Things Eorbidden and Allowed), and has not yet been printed. A eomiilete edition of the "Shibbole ha-Lekel " was imblisheil by Solomnn Bubcr in 1M8() at Wilna. The editor wiole a couiiuchensive introduction to it, containing an analysis of the work. Abridgments of it were jniblished much earlier: Venice (Daniel Bomberg), 1.54."i; Dubiiov. 17!)8; Salonica,!?!!"), Furthermore, it was plagiarized and published in a condensed form uiidei- the title " Tanya." or" Tanya I?ahbati." which went throiiirh four editions: Mantua, 1514: Cremona, l."".fi.");Zolkicy. 18(10: .Szydlikov, 18:5(5. A third abridgment, entitled "Ma'a.sch ha-Geonim" (The AVork of Old Authorities!, circulated in manuscript and is extant in the Bodleian Library. Oxford.
Anaw was in eorres]ioiidence with Abigdor Cohen, Meir of Rothenburg, and Abraham ben Joseph of
