Isaac Argyrns, a Greek monk who flourished in the latter half of the 14th century at/Eneus, in Thracia, wrote abdut i;)73, when he is said to have been at the age of sixty. Computus G racorum de solemnitate puscha-
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ISAAC BEN-ABBA-MARE 671 ISAAC BEX- JACOB ALFASI
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tis celehrandi, published in Greek and Latin by J. Christ- mann (Heidelberg, 1611, 4to), and inserted by Diony- sius Petavius in his De Doctrina teinpo?-um (iii, 359). He is also supposed to be the author of a work still in MS. form on astronomy. Of Isaac's personal history but little is clearly known. — Jocher, Gekhrt. Lex. ii. 1984 ; Mosheim, Jicd. Hist. bk. iii, cent, xiv, pt. ii, ch. ii. (.J. H.W.)
Isaac ben- Abba-Mare, a Jewish exponent of the Talmud, was born at liourg des St. Gilles, France, in 1139. His father was an otiicer under the govern- ment of the count of Toidouse, and afforded Isaac ev- ery opportunity for distinction, but he earlj-^ devoted himself to the study of the Talmud under the celebrated Kabbi Tarn of Kameru. When only seventeen years old he prepared a compendium of certain ritualistic laws of the Jews, in which he evinced thorough familiarity with the Talmud. He also wrote a commentary on one of the most difficult parts of the Talmud, and finally collected all his investigations on the Jewish traditions mider the title of "i^:2"il (probably in 1179). It was incompletely published by Josef ben-Saruk (Ven. 1608 ; and since then, Warsowa, 1801). See Griitz, Gesch. d. Juden, vi, 2W; Fiirst, Biblioth. Judaica, ii, 137. (J. H. W.)
Isaac ben - Abraham, a distinguished Jewish Rabbi of the Karaitic sect, was born at Trock, near Wil- na (Lithuania) about 1533. He is especially celebrated as the author of a work against Christianity, entitled ili^'CX p'I'n, Chizzuk Amunah (muiiimenfdei), written in 1593. It is divided into two parts : the first, contain- ing fifty chapters, consists of an apology for Judaism, and a general attack on the Christian faith ; the second contains a critical examination of a hundred passages of the N. T., intended by the writer to refute the proofs adduced by Christians from the Old Test. It is consid- ered, next to the productions of Duran (q. v.), the ablest work ever written by any Jew against the Christian re- ligion. It was first published by Wagenseil, with a Latin translation, in the Tela ignea Satarue (Altdorf, 1682,4to), from a MS. obtained from an African Jew, which, as Griitz asserts, was imperfect. The Hebrew text was after- wards reprinted by the Jews (Amsterdam, 1705, 12mo), and by Gousset, with a Latin translation and a refuta- tion (Amst. 1712, fol.). Wolf, in his Bibliotheca Ilebra- ica, gives a supplement and variation, said to be derived from a more perfect j\IS. than the one at Wagenseil's command. But the best edition is held to be that of Rabbi Dcutsch (Sohrau, 1865). It was also translated into (ierman Hebrew (Amst. 1717, 8vo); into German by Gebling, and into Spanish by Is. Athia. Among the works written iu answer to it, which deserve especial mention, besides those named above, are J. Mijller, Con- fututio lihri Chizuk Emuna (Hamb. 1644, 4to) ; Gebhard, Centum loca Novi Testnmenti vindicata adversus Chizuk Emuna (Greifswald, 1699, 4to) ; J. P. Storr, Erancieliaclw Glauheiislfhre fjegeti d. Wei-k C/iissuk Emuna (IHib. 1703, 8vo) ; K. Kidder, Demonstrnt. of the Messiah (Lond. 1684- 1700, 3 pts. 8vo). Isaac ben-Abraham died about 1594. See Bossi, Dizion. storico degli A utori Ebrei ; Bartolocci, Magna Biblio. Rabbin. ; Griitz, Gesch. d. Juden, ix, 490 sq. ; Hoefer, Xoui: Bioq. Gener. xxvi, 10 ; Fiirst, Biblioth. Jud. ii, 139. (J. H. W.)
Isaac ben- Abraham Akrish, a Jewish writer of considerable note, was born about 1489. iu Spain ; the name of the place is not known to us. He was lame on both feet, but this maimed condition b}-^ no means pre- vented him from acquiring great learning; nay, he even travelled extensively, and enjoj'ed the reputation of a great scholar. When yet a boy, the persecutions of the Jews by the Spaniards obliged him to leave his native land (1492), and he removed to Naples. But also here he and his coreligionists were sorely tried by persecution, and again he fled ; this time from country to country "whose languages he did not understand, and whose inhabitants spared neither the aged nor the
young," until he finally found a home in the house of a banished coreligionist in far-off Egypt. After a stay of some ten years he removed to Palestine, and finally set- tled in Turkey, where he was honored with the instruc- tion of one of the princes of the realm. He died after 1577. His works are "ItiJSp ?ip, or on Jewish Reign during the Exile; containing (1) the correspondence of Chasdai ben-Isaac with Jusuf, the king of the Chassars ; (2) D:iQ ^-^a 11^ nin trq-j;q, ox History of the Hmse of David during the i-eign of the Pej-sians ; also the his- tory of Bastanai, etc. (Constant. 15 . , 8vo ; Basle, 1589, 8vo ; and with a work of Farisaolo, Offenb. 1720, 12mo). See Griitz, Gesch. d. Jiuhn, ix, 10 sq., 420 sq. (J. H. W.)
Isaac ben-Calonymos. See Nathan.
Isaac ben-Elia ben-Samuel, a Jewish com- mentator who flourished in the beginning of the 18th century, deserves our notice as the author of (1.) A Com- menturg on the I'salws, jjublished at Dyrhenfurt, under the title of n"<"i:-0 '^-l2'P5 D^' b'^ht^r', the I'salms with a valuable catena (172Sj, consisting of excerpts from the celebrated expositions of Kashi, D. Kimchi, etc., giving also an abridgment of Alsheich's commentary, entitled PX MT2^1"i, and a German explanation of the difficult words. (2.) .1 Commentary on Proverbs, entitled "^^^73 D'^IS^ itJ^pP a", Proverbs icith a valuable catena (Wandsbeck, 1730-31), composed of excerpts from the eecpositions of Rashi, D. Kimchi, Ibn Ezra, Levi b.-Ger- shon, Salomon b.-Melech, giving also a German expla- nation of the difficult expressions, and an abridgment of Alsheich's exposition called D'^D'^iS ^"1"!; and (3.) A Commentary on the Sabbatic Lessons from the Prophets, entitled pn:j-' ^DS, the face of Isaac (Wandsbeck, 1730), which consists of excerpts from nine of the most distin- guished commentators, viz. Rashi, Ibn Ezra, D. Kimchi, Levi b.-Gershon, Abrabanel, Alsheich, Samuel b.-Lania- do, J. Arama, and Joseph Albo. The works of Isaac b.- Elia are very valuable, inasmuch as they enable the Biblical student to see on one page the expositions of the best and most famous Jewish commentators on ev- ery difficult passage, without being obliged to search for them in inaccessible and costly volumes. — Kitto, Bibli- cal Cyclopcpdia. ii, 410.