Abraham ibn Akra or Abraham ben Solomon Akra was a Jewish-Italian scholar and editor of scientific works who lived at the end of the 16th century. He edited the work
Me-Harere Nemerim
' (Venice, 1599), a collection of several methodological essays and commentaries on various

Talmudic The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

treatises. Akra is the author of a methodological treatise on the '' Midrash Rabbot,'' which

Isaiah Horowitz Isaiah or Yeshayahu ben Avraham Ha-Levi Horowitz ( he, ישעיה בן אברהם הלוי הורוויץ), (c. 1555 – March 24, 1630), also known as the ''Shelah HaKaddosh'' ( "the holy ''Shelah''") after the title of his best-known work, was ...

(של"ה) embodied in his work ''Shene Luḥot ha-Berit'' (ed. Amsterdam, p. 411), without credit. The same thing occurs in the

Vilna Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...

edition of the ''Midrash Rabbot,'' where Akra's treatise is reproduced from the ''Shene Luḥot ha-Berit.'' Akra's work appeared originally as an appendix to the ''Arze Lebanon,'' a collection of

kabalistic Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "receiver"). The defi ...

essays, Venice, 1601. Abraham makes there the interesting statement that he saw in Egypt the manuscript of the ''

Midrash Abkir Midrash Abkir (Hebrew: מדרש אבכיר) is one of the smaller midrashim, the extant remains of which consist of more than 50 excerpts contained in the Yalkut Shimoni and a number of citations in other works. It dealt, according to all accessib ...

.'' This is the last trace of the existence of that small ''midrash.''

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

* Michael, Or ha-Ḥayyim, No. 247.

External links

Jewish Encyclopedia article for Abraham ibn Akra
by Louis Ginzberg. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abraham ibn Akra Jewish Italian writers 16th-century Italian Jews Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown