Abudarhamאבודרהם
Seville · 1330
R
David Abudarham
David Abudarham
1280 CE–1345 CE · Rishonim · Seville
Rabbi David Abudarham flourished in Seville in the mid-fourteenth century, completing his great work there in 1340. Drawing on the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, the Geonim, and earlier commentators, his Sefer Abudarham — a sweeping commentary on the blessings and prayers of the Jewish liturgy — set out to explain the origin and meaning of every part of the service so that worshippers could pray with understanding. It became the indispensable classic on the history and structure of Jewish prayer, cited by virtually every later authority on the liturgy.
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Stop 1 of 11280–1345Born
SevilleסיביליהAndalusia — pre-expulsion Castilian center
What they did here
Of Seville; his classic commentary explains the liturgy and its laws.
About Seville
Seville, on the Guadalquivir River in southwestern Spain, is the capital of Andalusia. Known to the Romans as Hispalis, it was the see of Archbishop Isidore (c. 600-636), the encyclopedist of Visigothic Spain. After the Muslim conquest it was called Ishbiliya; it flourished as a centre of Andalusi learning and in the twelfth century became a seat of the Almohad state, whose minaret survives as the Giralda, and Ibn Rushd served as a judge there. Castile captured the city in 1248. Its large Jewish community was devastated by the 1391 massacres, which began in Seville under the agitation of Archdeacon Ferrand Martinez. From 1503 the Casa de Contratacion gave Seville a monopoly on trade with the Americas.
In Seville at the same time
In the same place & time
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Sages whose lives overlapped with David Abudarham’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.