Rabbi Abraham ben Menasseh Aboab (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: רבי אברהם בן מנשה אבוהב; d. 1642) also known as Abraham Aboab V was a Western Sephardic Portuguese philanthropist and Rabbi, who was an early founder of the

Portuguese Jewish community in Hamburg From about 1590 on, there had been a Portuguese Jewish community in Hamburg, whose ''qehilla'' (קהילה "congregation") existed until its compulsory merger with the Ashkenazi congregation in July 1939. The first Sephardic settlers were Portugue ...

Biography

Born to the

Aboab family The Aboab family (Hebrew language, Hebrew: אבוהב, ''Abuhav''; Arabic: ابوآب, ''Abuwab''; Turkish language, Turkish: Abuaf; Slavic languages, Slavic: Abuyav) is an old and distinguished Spanish and Portuguese Jews, Western Sephardic family, ...

around 1560 in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. His father Rav Menasseh Aboab was a

crypto-Jew Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek ''kryptos'' – , 'hidden'). The term is especially applied historically to Sp ...

, and the son of

Abraham Aboab IV Rabbi Abraham Aboab IV (Hebrew: רבי אברהם בן יצחק אבוהב השני; d. 1550) was a 15th-century Crypto-Jew and progenitor of the modern Aboab family. Born around 1470 in Toledo, Castile, the son of Isaac Aboab II. In his later li ...

. In his early years he went by his

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

alias "António Faleiro". He and his brother Jacob amassed great wealth by trading colonial commerce assets in Lisbon. To escape the Portuguese inquisition, he and his brother later moved to

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, where they reverted to the surname Aboab and headquartered an important family firm in which they imported sugar and spices from Portugal to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...

. Abraham later married Ana Dinis, and the couple moved to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in 1611. In Hamburg, he built the second

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

in that city, named "Keter Torah," for the Portuguese community, and founded several Yeshivah's both in Germany and in the

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Isra ...

with the wealth he had amassed. He was also granted a coat of arms. In 1625, he moved to

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

, where he died in 1642. He is the father of

Samuel Aboab Rabbi Samuel ben Abraham Aboab (Hebrew: רבי שמואל בן אברהם אבוהב; – August 22, 1694) also known by his acronym RaSHA (רש"א, Rabbi Shmuel ben Avraham) was a 17th-century Western Sephardic rabbi and scholar, who is considere ...

and the grandfather of

Jacob Aboab Rabbi Jacob ben Samuel Aboab (Hebrew language, Hebrew: רבי יעקב בן שמואל אבוהב; d. 1727) was an early 18th century Italians, Italian rabbi and scholar. He is the son of Samuel Aboab. Biography Born into the Aboab family around ...

References

17th-century Sephardi Jews German Sephardi Jews 16th-century Portuguese Jews 17th-century German rabbis People from Lisbon Rabbis from Hamburg Aboab family {{Germany-rabbi-stub