MEIR IBN-GABBAI
51
MEISNER
nispcl by a former co-religionist, named Knippe, who nas in the suite of the bishop of Basle. Eabbi Meir was imprisoned by the emperor, not so much for punish- ment as for the purpose of extorting from him or his co-religionists a sum of money, Meir died in 1293 in prison at Worms, where his tombstone was discovered a few years since in the " Gottesacker," or cemetery. The Ashkenazim, or German Jews, venerate him as a saint. Meir wrote Tlieological Decisions, or Questions and A n- swers (niailUm mbxiU), which have been published at Cremona, 1557 ; Prague, 1G03. He also wrote Com- mentaries on the Masorah (n"iD^ ''■lIX— ), which are still in MS. in the public libraries. He also wrote some liturgical pieces, which are still in use among the Jews; among other pieces, the famous lamentation "ipX'J t'i\3 nSlllIJ, in commemoration of the burning of the law at Paris in 1242. See Etheridge, Introd. to Ileb. Lit- erature, p. 288 ; Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden, vii, 107, 170-172, 188-191, 445, 456-60 (new edit. Leipsic, 1873) ; Jost, Ge- schichte des Judenthums ti. s. Sekten, iii, 32, 58; FUrst, Bihlioth. Jud. iii, 176, 177 ; Zunz, Gegchichte und Litera- tur, p. 40, 92, 128 (Berlin, 1845) ; Literuturgeschichte der Synagogales Poesie, p. 357-62, 623 (Berlin, 1865). (B. P.)
Meir ibn-Gabbai, a Jewish writer, was born in 1481 in Spain. When eleven years old he was obliged to leave his country on account of the edict of Ferdi- nand and Isabella, which banished all Jews from the land. Little is known of his personal history after this time. He wrote several cabalistical works: fia^TSi* Tp'!!, i. e. the way of truth, ten sections on the ten Sephiroth (Padua, 1563 ; Berlin, 1850, by N. A. Goldberg) :— nnh? Ty'nprj, also D^il'PX riiX'ip, in four sections: a, on the unity of God; b, on the mysteries of the adoration of God; c, on the end of the hiyher and loioer creatures ; d, on the mysteries of the law (Mantua, 1545, folio; Venice, 1567; Krakau, 1578); and a work o\\ prayer, entitled Sp^;;) nrbin(Kstpl.l5G0; Zolkiew, 1799). SeeFlirst, Bihlioth. Jud. i, 311, 312; Jost, Geschichte des Juden- thums, iii, 138 ; Griitz, Geschichte d. Juden, ix, 239 (Berl. 1866). (B.P.)
Meir Joseph bex-Joshua, surnamed Ha-Sephardi, i. e. the Spaniard, a Jewish savant of note, flourished in the early part of the 16th century. He was born in 1496 at Avignon, whither his father had retired on leav- ing Spain. He is the author of a most valuable historic work, entitled D'^ri^tl '^'^a'l. Chronicles of the Kings of France and the Ottoman Sovereigns, in two parts; the first from the creation till 1520, and the second of trans- actions from that time till 1553 (Venice, 1554 ; Amsterd. 1733). The value of the work consists in the fact that it throws aside much of the fable and wild imagination which render almost worthless all other rabbinical his- tories. Though contemporary with those events, the chronicler must be regarded as an impartial historian. A part of this work has been translated into Latin by L. Ferrand (Paris, 1670). To English readers this work is made accessible by C. H. Bialloblotzky's translation, The Chronicles of li. Joseph hen-Joshua Meir, the Se- j>hardi (Lond. 1836-38). See Fiirst, Bihlioth. Jud. ii, 115; Etheridge, Introd. to Heh. Literat. p. 453; Lindo. Hist, of the Jews of Spain and Portugal, p. 451 ; Jost, Geschichte des Judenthums, iii, 124; Milman, History of the Jeios, iii, 461 (New York, 1870) ; Da Costa, Israel and the Gentiles, p. 397 sq. (New York, 1855). (B. P.)
Meir Rofe, of Hebeox. Like his father Chija Rofe, he was a physician. Little is known of his life, except that he was one of the adherents of Sabbathai Zewi (q. v.), or Aga jMohammed Effendi, the Messiah, who during the 17th century excited the whole of Eu- rope and Asia. (B. P.)
Meiri CT^X^ n-^nb or i-liX^), Menachkm bkx- Salomo, also called lJo7i Vidal Salonio, also Menachem ben-Salomo, a Jewish savant, was born at Perpignan, in
France, in 1249. He was a man of great learning, and, like Maimonides, he tried to harmonize philosophy with the Talmud. He wrote in a lucid style, and in this re- spect made an exception to that bombastic method wliich was prevalent in his times. In his explanations of the holy Scriptures he kept aloof from the philosophical and mystical interpretation, and, though he acknowledged that some passages contain a higher hidden sense, he nevertheless adhered to the literal interpretation of the AVord. He died between 1317 and 1320. Besides a com- mentary on the book of Proverbs, he wrote commenta- ries on the Talmudical tract J/e^zYfo. (b? •T^i'^riS'!? ri"'a niS'a ; new edition Konigsberg, 1860, 4to) ; on Joma, printed with Is. Nuiies-Vaez's p^i^^ '^"'^ (Livorno, 1760) ; on Jehamoth, Sabhath, Nedarim, Nazir, Sota (Li- vorno and Salonica, 1794 and 1795). But his greatest commentary is on the tract Ahoth (m21!< IT^a or d*l~Q nSX?, with an introduction to the Talmud, etc. This latter work has been edited by M. Stern (Vienna, 1854), with biographical andbibliographical matter. See Griitz, Gesch. d. Juden, vii, 240-42 (Leipsic, 1873) ; Jost, Gesch. des Judenthums u. s. Sekten, iii, 57; Fiirst, Bihlioth. Jud. ii, 345, 346 ; Zunz, Zur Gesch. u. Literatur, p. 476^81 (Berl. 1845). (B.P.)