Abraham ben Nathan

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Abraham ben Nathan Ha-Yarchi (Hebrew: אברהם בן נתן הירחי) was a Provençal rabbi and scholar born in the second half of the twelfth century, probably at Lunel, Languedoc, where he also received his education. It is for this reason that he is sometimes also called "Ha-Yarḥi" ("of Lunel") since the Hebrew "yareaḥ" is the equivalent of the French "lune".

In Lunel, Abraham may have studied under RABaD III (Abraham ben David of Posquières), but his regular rabbinical studies, were pursued at Dampierre, in northern France, at the academy of R. Isaac ben Samuel, called R. Isaac ha-Zaḳen. Abraham subsequently left his birthplace, and, after much traveling, finally settled in Toledo in 1204, where his learning quickly gained for him the favor of the rich and learned Joseph ibn Shushan and that of his sons, Solomon and Isaac. To these patrons he dedicated his work Ha-Manhig (The Guide), or as the author called it, Manhig 'Olam, which he began in 1204 and completed some years later. In its present form the book consists of two distinct portions, the first of which comprises a collection of responsa, compiled from his numerous written and oral decisions, some of the former of which still bear the usual epistolary conclusion: "Shalom! A. B. N." (Greeting! Abraham ben Nathan). The second part contains extracts from the halakic works of Alfasi, Isaac ibn Giat, and Isaac ben Abba Mari, a relative of Abraham's.

The Manhig did not exert any important influence on halakic literature and is only occasionally mentioned by rabbis of the Middle Ages. However, it must be considered as of some importance in the history of Jewish literature, for it contains numerous literal quotations from the two Talmuds and most of the halakic and haggadic Midrashim, as well as from certain collections of the Haggadot which have been wholly lost; so that the Manhig contributes considerably to the textual criticism of all of those works. It gives interesting and instructive details concerning special synagogical usages, personally observed by the author in northern France, southwestern Germany, Burgundy, Champagne, Provence, England, and Spain, and for which there is no other source of information. Thus, he tells us that it was the custom in France for children to bring their Christian nurses to the courtyard of the synagogue on Purim, where their parents and relatives loaded them with gifts (p. 43a, ed. Berlin). He relates also that this custom was strongly objected to by many, because the Jewish poor were losers thereby, and Rashi is said especially to have denounced it.

Abraham is said also to have written a work entitled Maḥaziḳ ha-Bedeḳ, upon the ritual for slaughtering animals for food, mention of which, however, is made by but one writer in 1467. Renan was mistaken in saying that this work is mentioned in Ha-Manhig (p. 1b; Renan, Les Rabbins Français, p. 747), for the words "sifri maḥaziḳ ha-bedeḳ" refer, as may be seen from page 2b, line 6, to the HaManhig, which was designed to counteract any schism in matters of ritual. Zacuto, in Yuḥasin (ed. Filipowski, p. 221), who is followed by Conforte, in his Ḳore ha-Dorot (ed. Berlin, 19b), ascribes, without giving his authority, a certain book entitled Maḥaziḳ ha-Bedeḳ to Abraham ben Nathan. But Reifmann's assertion that RABN was the author of a work entitled Bet Zebul (Habitation) is wholly unwarranted; for these two words, occurring in the introduction to Ha-Manhig (p. 1, l. 6), refer to the Ha-Manhig itself, as is evident from the passage on page 2, line 6. RABN wrote also a commentary on the tractate Kallah, which is extant in fragmentary form only; specimens of it were given in the Hebrew weekly Ha-Maggid (1865, pp. 149, 150, 157, 158).

During his long stay in Spain, Abraham learned Arabic sufficiently to translate into Hebrew a responsum by Saadia, which is to be found in the Ha-Manhig (ed. Berlin, p. 95). His responsa were also published in Wertheimer's Ginze Yerushalayim, 1896.

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