Born in Spain in the
beginning of the 14th century. Assumed to have been a disciple of
Jacob Ben Asher (?1270-1340), author of the famous "Arba'a Turim".
Abudarham published commentary books about Jewish prayers, after
having noticed that the customs and rituals varied from one Jewish
community to another, and that many Jews did not understand the
liturgical texts and the rituals related to them. His most renowned
work is "Sefer Abudarham", written in 1340 in Seville, Spain, first
published in Lisbon, Portugal in 1490.
Abudarham's sources were the two Talmuds, scripts of the Geonim and
of the early and later commentators. "Sefer Abudarham" includes many
liturgical texts and customs of Spanish, Provencal, French, and
Ashkenazi origins, some of which rare and unique. For his work,
Abudarham also used the prayer book of Saadiah Gaon (882—942), and
is thought to be the last one to have seen the original book. In
addition to "Sefer Abudarham", he wrote a commentary of the Passover
Hagadah, rules of intercalation, and the order of the weekly
Haftarot. He also wrote a commentary on a Yom Kippur liturgical text
by Yose Ben Yose, as well as on other liturgical poems.
Danna Paz-Prins
Bibliography:
ABUDARHAM. David ben Joseph.
Sefer Rabenu David Abudarham : ... perushe ha-tefilot veha-berakhot : mekorot
ha-leshonot veha-nusha'ot ... : minhagim va-halakhot. Ed.
Menachem Avraham Braun. Yerushalayim: Mekhon Or ha-sefer, 761-
[2001-
ABUDARHAM. David ben Joseph. Perush ha-berakhot veha-tefilot Abudarham ha-shalem. Pp. 7. 415. Yerushalayim: Osha,
719 [i.e. 1958 or 1959]
ABUDARHAM. David ben
Joseph. Sefer Tashlum Abudarham : ve-hu Seder `Avodat Yom
ha-Kipurim, ha-meyuhas le-Yosi ben Yosi, ve-gam piyutim
shonim shel ha-paitanim ha-gedolim `im perush gedol ha-mefarshim
Rabenu David bar Yosef bar David Abudarham.
Ed. Eli`ezer Lipman ben Refa'el Prints. Pp. 185.
Yerushalayim: [h. mo. l.], 727 [i.e. 1966 or 1967]
