CARA. – French Jewish family (qārā = the reader), of whom three rabbis are to be remembered:
MENĀHEM BEN HELBŌ (11th cent.), the earliest chronologically of the exegetes of the French school, who, together with Raši, initiated the movement of reaction against moral-allegorical interpretation. SIMEONE BEN HELBŌ, called had-Darīān (“preacher”), brother of the preceding. The attribution to him of the midhrāšic collection Jalqūš Sim'ōnī was demonstrated to be false by L. Zunz. A commentary on Proverbs is cited as his. His son GIUSEPPE BEN SIM'ON was an exegete; seeking the literal biblical meaning with greater ardor than Raši, whose commentaries he takes as his basis, adding his own to them, he breaks with tradition, anticipating modern methods. His commentaries, which embrace almost the whole Old Testament, exerted great influence.