Farrar (Ferrar), Abraham

Portuguese physician and poet; born at Porto; died at Amsterdam 1663. After practising medicine at Lisbon, Farrar emigrated to Amsterdam, where he became (1639) president of the Portuguese community. He was a nephew of Jacob Tirado, the founder of the Portuguese congregation Bet Ya'aḳob at Amsterdam. There Farrar formed a friendship with Manasseh b. Israel, who dedicated to him his "Thesauro dos Dinim" Farrar's "Declaração das Seiscentas e Treze Encommendanças da Nossa Santa Ley" (Amsterdam, 1627) is a poetical rendering of the "Taryag Miẓwot" in Portuguese verse. He calls himself in this work "the Portuguese exile" (Judeo do destierro Portugal). De Barrios ("Relacion de los Poetas," p. 53) says, wrongly, that Farrar wrote in Spanish.

Bibliography:

  * De Barrios, Relacion de los Poetas, p. 53;
  * Kayserling, Gesch. der Juden in Portugal, p. 290;
  * idem, Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud. p. 44;
  * idem, in Rev. Etudes Juives, xviii. 281, 282.



G. M. Sel.