Abraham ibn Zimra(French: Abraham Benzamiro) was a Spanish rabbi, physician and diplomat who fled to Morocco following the Spanish Inquisition.
Descended from a well-known and respected Sephardi family, ibn Zimra settled in Safi, Morocco following the expulsion from Spain in 1492. He was a talented calligrapher and composed poetry in Hebrew and Arabic. [1]
He is buried in Safi with his six siblings and his tomb is the site of an annual pilgrimage. [2]
Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam, was a Sephardic rabbi and philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. In his time, he was also a preeminent astronomer and physician, serving as the personal physician of Saladin. He was born and lived in Córdoba in al-Andalus within the Almoravid Empire on Passover eve 1138 or 1135, until his family was expelled for refusing to convert to Islam. Later, he lived in Morocco and Egypt and worked as a rabbi, physician and philosopher.
Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was one of the most distinguished Jewish biblical commentators and philosophers of the Middle Ages. He was born in Tudela, Taifa of Zaragoza.
Judah Halevi was a Sephardic Jewish poet, physician and philosopher. He was born in Al-Andalus, either in Toledo or Tudela, in 1075. He is thought to have died in 1141, in either Jerusalem, at that point the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, or in Alexandria, Egypt.
Dunash ha-Levi ben Labrat was a medieval Jewish commentator, poet, and grammarian of the Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain. He is known for his philological commentary, Teshuvot Dunash, and for his liturgical poems D'ror Yiqra and D'vai Haser.
Medieval Hebrew was a literary and liturgical language that existed between the 4th and 19th century. It was not commonly used as a spoken language, but mainly in written form by rabbis, scholars and poets. Medieval Hebrew had many features distinguishing it from older forms of Hebrew. These affected grammar, syntax, sentence structure, and also included a wide variety of new lexical items, which were either based on older forms or borrowed from other languages, especially Aramaic, Koine Greek and Latin.
Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi (1013–1103), also known as the Alfasi or by his Hebrew acronym, the Rif, was a Maghrebi Talmudist and posek. He is best known for his work of halakha, the legal code Sefer Ha-halachot, considered the first fundamental work in halakhic literature.
Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community. Before the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, there were about 265,000 Jews in the country, which gave Morocco the largest Jewish community in the Muslim world, but by 2017 only 2,000 or so remained. Jews in Morocco, originally speakers of Berber languages, Judeo-Moroccan Arabic or Judaeo-Spanish, were the first in the country to adopt the French language in the mid-19th century, and unlike among the Muslim population French remains the main language of members of the Jewish community there.
Sefer ha-Chinuch is a rabbinic text which systematically discusses the 613 commandments of the Torah. It was written in 13th-century Spain by an anonymous "Levite of Barcelona".
The baqashot are a collection of supplications, songs, and prayers that have been sung by the Sephardic Syrian, Moroccan, and Turkish Jewish communities for centuries each week on Shabbat mornings from the early hours of the morning until dawn. They are usually recited during the weeks of winter, from the Jewish festival of Sukkot through Purim, when the nights are much longer. The baqashot services can last for three to four hours. The Ades Synagogue in Jerusalem is the center of the Syrian practice today, and communities in Ashdod and Montreal are the center of the Moroccan practice.
David ben Solomon ibn (Abi) Zimra (1479–1573) also called Radbaz (רַדְבָּ"ז) after the initials of his name, Rabbi David ben Zimra, was an early Acharon of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries who was a leading posek, rosh yeshiva, chief rabbi, and author of more than 3,000 responsa as well as several scholarly works.
Shem Tov ben Abraham ibn Gaon was a Spanish Talmudist and kabbalist.
Judeo-Moroccan Arabic is the variety or the varieties of the Moroccan vernacular Arabic spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Morocco. Historically, the majority of Moroccan Jews spoke Moroccan vernacular Arabic, or Darija, as their first language, even in Amazigh areas, which was facilitated by their literacy in Hebrew script. The Darija spoken by Moroccan Jews, which they referred to as al-‘arabiya diyalna as opposed to ‘arabiya diyal l-məslimīn, typically had distinct features, such as š>s and ž>z "lisping," some lexical borrowings from Hebrew, and in some regions Hispanic features from the migration of Sephardi Jews following the Alhambra Decree. The Jewish dialects of Darija spoken in different parts of Morocco had more in common with the local Moroccan Arabic dialects than they did with each other.
Simchah (Simon) ben Abraham Calimani was a Venetian rabbi and author. He was a versatile writer, and equally prominent as linguist, poet, orator, and Talmudist. During his rabbinate Calimani was engaged as corrector at the Hebrew printing office in Venice. Among the great number of books revised by him was the responsum of David ben Zimra (RaDBaZ), to which he added an index, and the Yad Ḥaruẓim of Gerson Ḥefeẓ, enriched with interesting notes of his own.
Samuel Pallache was a Jewish Moroccan merchant, diplomat, and pirate of the Pallache family, who, as envoy, concluded a treaty with the Dutch Republic in 1608. His antecedents fled to Morocco during the Reconquista. Appointed as an agent under the Saadi Sultan Zidan Abu Maali, Pallache traveled to the newly-independent Dutch Republic to discuss diplomatic terms with the Dutch against their mutual enemy, the Spanish. He died in the Netherlands, brought there due to the intervention of his ally, Maurice of Nassau, who helped him when he was arrested by the Spanish.
Jose ben Zimra was Jewish rabbi of the 2nd-3rd centuries, who lived during the transition period between the eras of the tannaim and the amoraim.
Joseph Saragossi, was a Spanish-born rabbi and kabbalist of the 15th and 16th centuries. He is credited with developing Safed into an important Jewish and kabbalistic centre. Due to a legend he is known as Tzaddik ha-Lavan or Tzaddik ha-Tarnegolim
The Tunisian city of Kairouan, also known as Kirwan or al-Qayrawan was a world center of Talmudic and Halakhic scholarship for at least three generations.
Isaac ben Abraham Akrish was a Sephardi Jewish scholar, bibliophile, and editor.
Joseph ben Isaac Sambari also known as Qātāya was a 17th century Egyptian Jewish historian and chronicler whose works provide important details about the affairs and conditions of 17th century Egyptian and Levantine Jewry.
Khalifa ben Malka, also known as the Rakhbam (רכב״ם), was a Moroccan Jewish writer and poet.
 | This biographical article about a Moroccan rabbi is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
| | This biographical article about a Spanish rabbi is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |