Isaac Semuel Abas

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Isaac Semuel Abas (* after 1634 in Hamburg , Glückstadt or Amsterdam ; † November 23, 1691 in Hamburg) was an important Jewish scholar, writer and community functionary.

He came from a well-known merchant family residing in Northern Europe and ennobled by the German Emperor at the beginning of the 17th century, whose name was originally Diaz Jorge . This name suggests Sephardic roots. After studying theology in Amsterdam, Isaac Semuel Abas returned to Hamburg before 1660. There he was repeatedly elected to high offices in the Portuguese-Jewish community of Bet Israel . In 1666 the community commissioned him to travel to Constantinople to pay homage to the self-proclaimed Messiah Sabbatai Zwi . For reasons that are not clear, this trip did not take place. Isaac Semuel Abas' great scholarship and important library (including numerous works on the problems of converts ) attracted numerous Christian theologians. In Hamburg he translated the well-known Al Hidayah ila Faraid al-Ḳulub (English: Book of the Duties of the Heart ) by the 11th century rabbi and philosopher Bahya ben Joseph ibn Paquda, who lived in Al-Andalus , into Portuguese. The translation was first printed in 1670 and was very well received. In 1665 Isaac Semuel Abas translated the anti-Christian treatise Keset Ieonatan by the Dutch convert Jonathan Guer from Dutch into Portuguese. Two years after the death of Isaac Semuel Abas, his famous library appeared in an auction catalog. In this it is given with 1136 titles in Latin, Portuguese, Italian, Hebrew, Spanish, French, Dutch and German. Greek grammars and dictionaries as well as books on medicine were particularly well represented. The composition of his library also indicates a predilection for intellectual French circles.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Institute for the History of German Jews: The Jewish Hamburg - A historical reference work , Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen, 2006, ISBN 978-3-8353-0004-0 , p. 15
  2. ^ S. Berger: Classical Oratory and the Sephardim of Amsterdam - Rabbi Aguilar's `Tratado de la Retorica` , Hilversum Verloren, 1996, ISBN 90-6550-547-4 , p. 37

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Abas, Isaac Semuel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION eminent Jewish scholar, writer and community functionary
DATE OF BIRTH after 1634
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg , Glückstadt or Amsterdam
DATE OF DEATH November 23, 1691
Place of death Hamburg