Abstract: Commentary to Maimonides' Guide to the Perplexed. The book is divided into chapters, each containing an introduction in which he sets forth what in his opinion were the difficulties to be encountered in the chapter. This is followed by a excursus of the subject matter. Don Isaac b. Judah Abravanel (1437-1508), received a careful education and was a pupil of R. Joseph Hayyim, rabbi of Lisbon. Well versed in Talmudic literature and in the learning of his time, endowed with a clear and keen mind, and full of enthusiasm for Judaism, he devoted his early years to the study of Jewish religious philosophy,and when scarcely twenty years old wrote on the original form of the natural elements, on the most vital religious questions, on prophecy, etc. His political abilities also attracted attention while he was still young. He entered the service of King Alfonso V. of Portugal as treasurer, and soon won the confidence of his master. Notwithstanding his high position and the great wealth he had inherited from his father, his love for his afflicted brethren was unabated. When Arzilla, in Morocco, was taken by the Moors, and the Jewish captives were sold as slaves, he contributed largely to the funds needed to manumit them, and personally arranged for collections throughout Portugal. He also wrote to his learned and wealthy friend Jehiel, of Pisa, in behalf of the captives. After the death of Alfonso he was obliged to relinquish his office, having been accused by King John II. of connivance with the duke of Bragança, who had been executed on the charge of conspiracy. Don Isaac, warned in time, saved himself by a hasty flight to Castile (1483). His large fortune was confiscated by royal decree. At Toledo, his new home, he occupied himself at first with Biblical studies, and in the course of six months produced an extensive commentary on the books of Joshua, Judges, and Samuel. But shortly afterward he entered the service of the house of Castile. Together with his friend, the influential Don Abraham Senior, of Segovia, he undertook to farm the revenues and to supply provisions for the royal army, contracts that he carried out to the entire satisfaction of Queen Isabella. During the Moorish war Abravanel advanced considerable sums of money to the government. When the banishment of the Jews from Spain was decreed, he left nothing undone to induce the king to revoke the edict. In vain did he offer him 30,000 ducats ($68,400, nominal value). With his brethren in faith he left Spain and went to Naples, where, soon after, he entered the service of the king. For a short time he lived in peace undisturbed; but when the city was taken by the French, bereft of all his possessions, he followed the young king, Ferdinand, in 1495, to Messina; then went to Corfu; and in 1496 settled in Monopoli, and lastly (1503) in Venice, where his services were employed in negotiating a commercial treaty between Portugal and the Venetian republic (Zurita, "Historia del Rey Don Fernando el Católico," v. 342a). http://www.virtualjudaica.com/Item/33514/Perush_Abravanel

Abstract: A collection of "praise and supplications" which was collected and published in Salonika by Agudat Hapaytanim under the direction of Hananel Hayim Hasid (who was the translator of a volume of psalms called Sefer Tehilim Ner le-Daṿid into Ladino).The piyutim are in Hebrew, with instructions in Ladino. The collection is based on the work of R. Yisrael Najara, a noted poet and liturgist, and this volume contains an introduction about R. Najara taken from Otzar Ha-shirah V'hamlitsah by Yisrael Hayim Tavyov (1858-1920), a linguist, author, essayist and educator. R. Israel ben Moses Najara was a poet, liturgist, cabalist, preacher, and Biblical commentator; born at Damascus about the middle of the sixteenth century; died at Gaza, where he had officiated as rabbi. According to Franco ("Histoire des Israélites de l'Empire Ottoman," p. 79, Paris, 1897), there is another account which declares that R. Najara was born about 1530 and that he lived for some years at Adrianople. From his secular poems, which he wrote in the meters of various Turkish, Spanish, and modern Greek songs, it is evident that he knew well several foreign languages. As may be seen from his works, he was a versatile scholar; and he corresponded with many contemporary rabbis, among others with Bezalel Ashkenazi, Yom-Ṭob Ẓahalon, Moses Hamon, and Menahem Ḥefeẓ. His poetic effusions were exceptionally numerous, and many of them were translated into Persian. While still young he composed many religious hymns, to Arabic and Turkish tunes, with the intention, as he says in the preface to his "Zemirot Yisrael," of turning the Jewish youth from profane songs. He wrote piyyuṭim, pizmonim, seliḥot, widduyim, and dirges for all the week-days and for Sabbaths, holy days, and occasional ceremonies, these piyyuṭim being collected in his "Zemirot Yisrael." Many of the piyyuṭim are in Aramaic. For his hymns on the marriage of God and Israel, R. Najara was severely blamed by Menahem do Lonzano ("Shete Yadot," p. 142) when the latter was at Damascus. The "Shibḥe Ḥayyim Wiṭal" (p. 7b) contains a violent attack by R. Ḥayyim Vital upon a poet whose name is not mentioned, but who is supposed to be R. Israel Najara. Nevertheless, R. Isaac Luria, R. Vital's teacher, declared that R. Najara's hymns were listened to with delight in heaven. His piyyuṭim were praised also by Leon of Modena, who composed a song in his honor, which was printed at the beginning of the "'Olat Shabbat," the second part of the "Zemirot Yisrael." R. Najara's letters, secular poems, epigrams, and rimed prose form the work entitled "Meme Yisrael" (published at the end of the second edition of the "Zemirot Yisrael"). R. Najara's other works are as follows: "Mesaḥeḳet ha-Tebel" (Safed, 1587), an ethical poem on the nothingness of the world:"Shoḥaṭe ha-Yeladim" (printed with Moses Ventura's "Yemin Mosheh," Amsterdam, 1718), Hebrew verse on the laws of slaughtering and porging, composed at the request of his son Moses; "Ketubbat Yisrael" (with Joseph Jaabez's "Ma'amar ha-Aḥdut," n.p., 1794), a hymn which, in the cabalistic fashion, represents the relationship between G-d and Israel as one between man and wife (it was composed for the Feast of Pentecost); a collection of hymns published by M. H. Friedländer (Vienna, 1858) under the title "Pizmonim." His unpublished works are: "She'eret Yisrael," poems (see below); "Ma'arkot Yisrael," a commentary on the Pentateuch; "Miḳweh Yisrael," sermons; "Piẓ'e Oheb," a commentary on Job. The "Zemirot Yisrael," originally entitled "Zemirot Yisrael Najara," was first published at Safed (1587) and contained 108 piyyuṭim and hymns. Many additional songs were printed in the second edition (Venice, 1599). This edition contains also the "Meme Yisrael" and the "Mesaḥeḳet ha-Tebel," and is divided into three parts: (1) "'Olot Tamid," containing 225 piyyuṭim for the week-days; (2) "'Olot Shabbot," containing 54 piyyuṭim for the Sabbaths of the whole year; (3) "'Olot Ḥodesh," containing 160 piyyuṭim and dirges for the holy days, Purim, the Ninth of Ab, and occasional ceremonies. It was published a third time at Belgrade (1837), but with the omission of many songs and of the two works just mentioned. Extracts from the "Zemirot Yisrael" were published under the title of "Tefillot Nora'ot" (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1712). Many of R. Najara's piyyuṭim and hymns have been taken into the rituals and maḥzorim in use among the Jews in different countries, especially in Italy and Palestine. Benjamin II. ("Mas'e Yisra'el," p. 15) states that the Jews of Aleppo sing on Sabbath eve many beautiful hymns and recite many prayers, most of which are by R. Najara. The best known of his Aramaic hymns is the one beginning "Yah Ribbon 'Olam," recited on Sabbath by the Jews of all countries and printed in all the rituals. The "She'erit Yisra'el" contains sixty poems and is, according to its heading, the second part of the "Zemirot Yisrael"; it is found in the bet ha-midrash of the German community in Amsterdam. From it Dukes published one poem in "Orient, Lit." (iv. 526; comp. 540). M. Sachs attempted to render some of Najara's piyyuṭim into German (Busch, "Jahrbücher," 1847, pp. 236-238). After the ruins of the house inhabited by R. Judah he-Ḥasid at Jerusalem were cleared away in 1836, some writings of R. Israel Najara of the year 1579 were found; these writings are now preserved in the archives of the synagogue of Jerusalem. Israel Haim Tavyov (1858-1920) ran an “improved heder” (traditional primary school), wrote textbooks in Hebrew and briefly (1908-10) published a vowel-pointed daily newspaper for children, Hehaver. He was also a playwright, author, translator and researcher of language and folklore who earned his living as an accountant and teacher. Quelle: http://173.46.158.140/Listing/Details/654437/Sefer-bakashot-upizmonim-Salonica-1928