- Israel Alnaqua
Israel ben Joseph Alnaqua (
Hebrew : ישראל בן יוסף אלנאקוה) (also, "Al-Nakawa", "Al-Nakava", "Ankava", "Ankoa", "Alnucawi", etc,Hebrew : "נקוה", "אלנאקוה", "אנקווה", "אנקאווא") (d. 1391) was an ethical writer and martyr who lived in Toledo,Spain . He died at the stake, together withJudah ben Asher , in the summer of 1391.He is the author of an ethical work in twenty chapters, entitled "Menorat ha-Maor" (Shining Candelabra). The work commences with a long poem, an acrostic on the author's name. Then follows a preface in rimed prose. The introduction to each chapter is headed by a poem, giving the acrostic of his name, Israel. It was printed in 1578. A manuscript of it is in the
Bodleian . An abridgment of it was published atCracow , 1593, under the title "Menorat Zahav Kullah" (Candlestick Wholly of Gold). It is divided into five sections, which contain observations
# on laws in general
# on education
# on commerce
# on the behavior of litigants and judges in court
# on conduct toward one's fellow men.This is supplemented by a treatise, שפת אליהו רבה, consisting of
Talmudic andmidrashic sayings and maxims, which has been published in German (Hebrew characters) in Wagenseil's "Belehrung der Jüd.-Deutschen Red-und Schreibart", Königsberg, 1699.Other family members
*
Ephraim Alnaqua Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
*
Zunz , Z. G. p. 435;
*Benjacob , Oẓar ha-Sefarim, p. 337, No. 1436;
*Steinschneider , Cat. Bodl. No. 5447;
*S. Schechter , Monatsschrift, xxxiv. 114, 234.References
*JewishEncyclopedia
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
