Isaac Uziel

Isaac ben Abraham Uziel (* in the 16th century in Fez ; † April 1, 1622 in Amsterdam ) was a rabbi and poet of Spanish origin , who last worked in the Sephardic community of Amsterdam.

Life

Isaac Uziel was born as the son of Rabbi Abraham Uziel of Spanish origin, who lives in Fez (now Morocco ). Because of the famine of 1604/05, the family emigrated to Oran (today Algeria ). As early as 1606 Isaac Uziel moved on to Amsterdam, where he became a Midrash teacher for the Sephardic community. He also worked as a businessman. In 1610 he was appointed to succeed Judah Vega , the first rabbi of the Neveh Shalom community .

As a preacher, he attacked the, in his opinion, insufficiently orthodox attitudes of many former conversos with violent words . The resulting dispute caused a third Sephardic congregation to be founded in 1618 alongside the Beth Jacob and the Neve Schalom under the name Beth Israel .

As a teacher he was respected for his knowledge and rigor. His well-known students include Menasse ben Israel , Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, and Cohen de Lara .

Uziel was not only famous as a teacher and preacher, but also recognized for his math and musical skills. He was considered divino theologo, peritto astronomico, arithmetico, musico, poeta & destrissimo arpista . He wrote a Hebrew grammar and a translation of the Historia Septem Sapientium into Hebrew.

Works

Ma'aneh lashon , Hebrew grammar. Amsterdam 1627.

literature

Cecil Roth : A Life of Menasseh ben Israel, Rabbi, Printer and Diplomat . Philadelphia 1934, pp. 22-24, 32-34.
Abraham David: UZIEL, ISAAC BEN ABRAHAM. In: Encyclopaedia Judaica . 2nd Edition. Volume 20, Detroit / New York a. a. 2007, ISBN 978-0-02-865948-0 , pp. 449-450 (English).

Web links

Gotthard German , a. a .: Isaac b. Abraham Uziel. In: Isidore Singer (Ed.): Jewish Encyclopedia . Funk and Wagnalls, New York 1901-1906.

Individual evidence

^ Gérard Nahon: The Portuguese Jewish Nation of Amsterdam as Reflected in the Memoirs of Abraham-Haim Lopes Arias, 1752 . In Yosef Kaplan, Chaya Brasz (ed.): Dutch Jews as Perceived by Themselves and by Others . Leiden 2001, pp. 59-78.

personal data
SURNAME	Uziel, Isaac
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Usiel, Issak; Uziel, Isaac ben Abraham
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Sephardic Rabbi in Amsterdam
DATE OF BIRTH	16th Century
PLACE OF BIRTH	Fez
DATE OF DEATH	April 1, 1622
Place of death	Amsterdam

[1] Gérard Nahon: The Portuguese Jewish Nation of Amsterdam as Reflected in the Memoirs of Abraham-Haim Lopes Arias, 1752 . In Yosef Kaplan, Chaya Brasz (ed.): Dutch Jews as Perceived by Themselves and by Others . Leiden 2001, pp. 59-78.