Enciclopedia Cattolica Vol. I, 1948 History & biography Historians, various biographies

Aboab, Isaac, Da Fonseca

ABOAB, ISACCO, DA FONSECA

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Also known as: Isaac Aboab de Fonseca, Isaac de Fonseca Aboab, Yitzhak Aboab da Fonseca

ABOAB, ISAAC, DA FONSECA. - Rabbi, b. at Castres d'Aire (Spain) in 1605, d. in 1693.

He was barely 7 years old when his parents, to escape the Inquisition, had to move to St-Jean-de-Luz near the French border. After the death of his father, his mother took him to Amsterdam, where he studied with the famous Manasseh ben Israel under Rabbi Isaac Uziel. At the age of 21 he was appointed rabbi of the Sephardic community of Amsterdam. In 1642 he emigrated with other coreligionists to Pernambuco in Brazil, then a Dutch possession. [After the expulsion of the Jews from Brazil], A. returned to being rabbi and director of the Talmudic academy in Amsterdam. In 1656 he was part of the council that pronounced the excommunication against Spinoza. He also appears among the signatories of an address of homage to the pseudo-messiah Sabbatai Zevi. He was a distinguished preacher; according to tradition, the Jesuit Antonio Vieira, who attended the sermons in the synagogue, is said to have remarked: "Manasseh says what he knows; A. knows what he says."

A. translated from Spanish into Hebrew the kabbalistic writings Puerta del Cielo and Casa de Dios, and published a Parafrasis comentada sobre el Pentateucho, Amsterdam 1681.

Bibliography2 works
BIBL.: H. Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, X, Leipzig 1853-75, passim; J. N. Simhoni, s. v. in Encycl. Judaica, I (1928), pp. 347-48.

Eugenio Zolli

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By Eugenio Zolli

How we know signed in print

Translated from the Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I (1948), col. 102.

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vol. 1, coll. 101–102

More by Eugenio Zolli: Aboab, Isaac · Abraham · Abele (Akele) Sijjōn · Abel (Hebrew Hēbel; Septuagint Greek Ἀβέλ) · Abbaḥu, Rabbi

Cite this article

Chicago

Zolli, Eugenio. “Aboab, isacco, da fonseca.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, col. 102. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948. https://azioneromana.com/article/aboab-isacco-da-fonseca.

MLA

Zolli, Eugenio. “Aboab, isacco, da fonseca.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948, col. 102. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/aboab-isacco-da-fonseca.

BibTeX

@incollection{ec1_aboab_isacco_da_fonseca,
  author    = {Zolli, Eugenio},
  title     = {Aboab, isacco, da fonseca},
  booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
  volume    = {I},
  pages     = {102},
  note      = {Cited by column},
  publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
  address   = {Città del Vaticano},
  year      = {1948},
  url       = {https://azioneromana.com/article/aboab-isacco-da-fonseca}
}

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