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Bible Encyclopedias
Alfandari
The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia
or A family of eastern rabbis prominent in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, found in Smyrna, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. The name may be derived from a Spanish locality, perhaps from Alfambra. The following is a list of the chief members of the family:
Members of this family are to be found to-day in Constantinople and in Beirut. A Portuguese family of the name Alphandéry still exists in Paris and Avignon. At the latter place there was a physician, Moses Alphandéry, in 1506 ("Rev. Ét. Juives," 34:253) and a Lyon Alphanderic, in 1558 (ibid. 7:280). Compare the names Moses 
(Neubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No. 2129) and Aaron 
(ibid. No. 1080). For a possible explanation of the name, see Steinschneider, "Jew. Quart. Rev." 11:591. In addition to the persons mentioned below, there is known a Solomon Alfandari (Valencia, 1367), whose son Jacob assisted Samuel Ẓarẓa in tranṣlating the "Sefer ha-'Aẓamim" of pseudo-ibn Ezra from the Arabic into Hebrew. A merchant, Isaac Alfandari, was wrecked in 1529 on the Nubian coast (Zunz, "Z. G." p. 425; Steinschneider, "Hebr. Uebers." p. 448).
Aaron ben Moses Alfandari:
Talmudic writer; born in Smyrna about 1700; died in Hebron in 1774. He emigrated to Palestine in his old age, where he met Azulai. He was the author of two works: "Yad Aharon" (Aaron's Hand), a collection of notes on "Ṭur Oraḥ Ḥayyim" (the first part of which was published in Smyrna in 1735, and the second in Salonica in 1791) and on "Ṭur Eben ha-'Ezer" (Smyrna, 1756-66); also of "Mirkebet ha-Mishneh" (The Second Chariot), a treatise on the first part of Maimonides' "Yad ha-ḤazaḲah." His grandson, Isaac Ardit, wrote a eulogy on him in his "YeḲar ha-'Erek," Salonica, 1836.
- Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, s.;
- Michael, Or ha-Ḥayyim, No. 302;
- Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 40.
Elijah Alfandari:
Writer on matrimonial law; rabbi at Constantinople in the latter half of the eighteenth and in the beginning of the nineteenth century. He published two works on matrimonial law, "Seder Eliyahu Rabbah we-Zuṭṭa" (The Great and Small Order of Elijah), Constantinople, 1719, and "Miktab me-Eliyahu" (A Letter from Elijah), Constantinople, 1723. His cousin, Ḥayyim Alfandari, the Younger, in a question of law which he submitted to him, refers to him as a great authority in rabbinical law ("Muẓẓal me-Esh," p. 39).
- Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, s.;
- Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 926.
Ḥayyim ben Isaac Raphael Alfandari the Younger:
Rabbi in Constantinople during the latter half of the seventeenth and in the beginning of the eighteenth century. In his old age he went to Palestine, where he died. He was the author of "Esh Dat" (A Fiery Law), a collection of homilies printed together with his uncle's "Muẓẓal me-Esh" in Constantinople, 1718. Several short treatises by him are published in the works of others. Azulai speaks very highly of him as a scholar and as a preacher.
- Michael, Or ha-Ḥayyim, No. 854;
- Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 821.
Ḥayyim ben Jacob Alfandari the Elder:
Talmudic teacher and writer; born in 1588; was teacher at Constantinople in 1618; died in 1640. He was the pupil of Aaron ben Joseph Sason. Some of his responsa were published in the "Maggid me-Reshit" (He Tells from the Beginning), Constantinople, 1710, which contains also the responsa of his son Isaac Raphael, and which was edited by his grandson Ḥayyim ben Isaac Raphael. His novellæ on several Talmudic treatises are still extant in manuscript.
- Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, s.;
- Michael, Or ha-Ḥayyim, No. 853;
- Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. No. 4668.
Isaac Raphael Alfandari:
Son of Ḥayyim, and father of Ḥayyim the Younger; died about 1690. He lived in Constantinople in the seventeenth century. Some of his responsa are published in his father's collection, "Maggid me-Reshit," Constantinople, 1710.
- Benjacob, Oẓar ha-Sefarim, p. 291;
- Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. s.
Jacob ben Ḥayyim Alfandari:
Talmudic writer and rabbi in Constantinople in the seventeenth century. In 1686 he refers to himself as an old man ("Muẓẓal me-Esh," p. 5). He was the author of a volume of responsa edited by his nephew Ḥayyim the Younger (Constantinople, 1718), entitled "Muẓẓal me-Esh" (Plucked from the Fire), because it was saved from a conflagration which consumed most of the author's manuscripts. Others of his responsa are printed in the collection of his father and in that of Joseph Kazabi (Constantinople, 1736; see Steinschneider, "Cat. Bodl." col. 1179).
These files are public domain.
Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Alfandari'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tje/a/alfandari.html. 1901.
