Farḥi, Joseph Shabbethai:

By: Kaufmann Kohler , M. Seligsohn

Talmudic scholar and cabalist; born at Jerusalem about 1802; died at Leghorn, Italy, in 1882. Farḥi was an earnest cabalist; he believed that after death the human body undergoes the trial of purgatory which the cabalists call "ḥibbuṭ ha-ḳeber" (the torments of the grave).

Farḥi went to Leghorn about 1842, and while there wrote: (1) "'Oseh Fele," a collection of wonderful stories (Leghorn, 1845); (2) "Toḳpo shel Yosef," a narration of the story of Joseph ( ib. 1846); (3) "Rokeb 'Arabot," an Arabic commentary on Pirḳe Abot, with the text, the Decalogue, and the "Piyyuṭ bar Yoḥai" ( ib. 1849); (4) "Sheber Bat 'Ami," an Arabic commentary on the Hafṭarah of the Ninth of Ab, with an Arabic version of the story of Anna and her seven sons ( ib. 1853). He edited the "Ma'aseh Abot" of Isaac Farḥi, adding a number of notes ( ib. 1864), and the "Ma'agal Ṭob" of Joseph Concio ( ib. 1879).