Trabot (Trabotti)

Family of Italian scholars of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, which immigrated to Italy from France, so that several of its members bore the additional name "Ẓarfati." The most important representatives of the family are as follows:

Azriel Trabot:

1. Scholar of the sixteenth century; probably a member of the rabbinical college in Rome. Nothing is known of his literary activity. 2. Rabbi at Florence and Ascoli in the sixteenth century; son of Jehiel Trabot (1). A responsum by him, dated 1567, is extant in manuscript. 3. Rabbi of Ascoli at the beginning of the seventeenth century; son of Jehiel Trabot (2). He was the author of some responsa, extant in manuscript, and of a list of rabbis (reprinted in "R. E. J." iv. 208-225) from Rabina and R. Ashi to R. Nissim the Younger.

Jehiel Trabot:

1. Rabbi at Pesaro during the earlier part of the sixteenth century; son of Azriel Trabot (1). On the maternal side Jehiel was a grandson of Joseph Colon, whose name he bore in addition to his own. He is mentioned in Jacob Alpron's collection of responsa entitled "Naḥalat Ya'aḳob," and responsa signed by him in 1519 and 1520 are extant in manuscript. 2. Rabbi of Ferrara and Pesaro; died after 1590; son of Azriel Trabot (2). He was the author of certain responsa divided according to the ritual codes; they have been preserved in manuscript.

Levi Trabot:

One of the earliest members of the family. He flourished in the first half of the fifteenth century, and emigrated from France to Italy, whence he went to Jerusalem, so that his son Nathaniel called him . Like several other members of the family, he bore the name "Ẓarfati." Codex Turin No. 65 contains two poems by another Levi Trabot, written in honor of the presentation of scrolls of the Law to the synagogue in Mantua, one being composed in 1581, and the other in 1596.

Menahem ben Perez Trabot:

Rabbi at Ferrara in the latter part of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century. Responsa by him are still extant in manuscript.

Nethaneel ben Benjamin ben Azriel Trabot:

Rabbi of Modena; born about 1576; died Dec. 22, 1653; uncle of Solomon Graciano. He was one of the greatest and most respected of Italian rabbis. Of his works the following have been preserved: a ritual decision at the beginning of the collection of responsa entitled "Kenaf Renamin"; a responsum in the "Paḥad Yiẓḥaḳ" of Lampronti (i. 111b-112a); and a responsum in the "Debar Shemu'el" of Samuel Aboab (No. 19). His great learning is mentioned in the collection entitled "Be'er 'Eseḳ" (No. 53); and his so-called "Testament" has been reprinted by Mortara in Berliner's "Magazin" (xiv. 11-22). Mention should also be made of a responsum treating ofthe reformation of synagogal music, addressed to Samuel Norzi, and reprinted in the "Monatsschrift," xxxix. 350-357. Four elegies on his death were reprinted in "R. E. J." xxxv. 256-263.

Nethaneel ben Levi ha-Naḳdan Trabot:

Calligrapher and punctuator; flourished in the sixteenth century. A copy of the Masorah entitled "Patshegen" (Codex de Rossi No. 7), and a manuscript of the Pentateuch (Codex Ambrosianus No. 35) are still preserved as specimens of his work. He was also known as a liturgical poet, being the author of two Habdalot (Codex de Rossi No. 1050). He likewise composed an elegy in twenty-six stanzas.

E. C. S. O.Perez Trabot:

Hebrew lexicographer; lived in Italy at the close of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth century. He calls himself either "Ẓarfati" or "Katelani," thus showing that he had emigrated, probably after the expulsion of the Jews from France in 1395, to Catalonia, and thence to Italy. He was the author of a work entitled "Maḳre Dardeḳe," containing a Hebrew-French or a Hebrew-Catalan vocabulary (Naples, 1488), and in his introduction to this work he speaks of the banishment of the Jews from France.

Bibliography:

  * Neubauer, in R. E. J. ix. 316;
  * Schwab, ib. xvi. 253;
  * Perles, Beiträge zur Gesch. der Hebräischen und Aramäischen Sprachstudien, pp. 111 et seq.;
  * Renan, Les Ecrivains Juifs Français, pp. 576 et seq.



E. C. I. Br.Perez Jehiel ben Nethaneel Trabot:

Liturgical poet of the sixteenth century. He was the author of three elegies beginning (1) ; (2) ; and (3) .

The following members of the Trabot family are also mentioned: Abraham Trabot, who wrote Codex Turin No. 17 as far as Numbers, and dated the colophon on the 2d of Ḥeshwan (Nov.), 1664; Beraḥiel ben Hezekiah Trabot, author of a small maḥzor completed at Florence on the 7th of Nisan (March 9), 1490 (Codex Modena No. 6); Ḥayyim ben Raphael Trabot, whose signature appears in a Florentine codex (Plut. I., No. 30) of 1462; Jacob ben Aaron Trabot, the author of marginal glosses in Codex Turin A. xiii. 3; Judah Trabot of Nizza, the author of a commentary on the "Tempio" of Rieti (Codex Turin A. v. 27); Menahem ben Nethaneel Raphael Trabot, who purchased Codex Turin A. vii. 18 on July 22, 1472; Perez ben Menahem Trabot, rabbi at Ferrara in the sixteenth century (Lampronti, "Paḥad Yiẓḥaḳ," iv. 22); Phinehas ben R. Menahem Trabot, rabbi of Ferrara in the sixteenth century (ib., s.v. ); Raphael Trabot, who sent Abraham of Perugia an account of a journey to Jerusalem, dated the 28th of Ab (Aug. 21), 1523 (Cod. Florent., Plut. II., No. 35); Solomon Trabot, said to have been the father of Joseph Colon (Codex Parma No. 1420; Codex No. 2 of the Foa collection); and Solomon (da Trevoux) Trabot, rabbi of Savigliano in the fifteenth century (Steinschneider, "Hebr. Bibl." xii. 117).

Bibliography:

  * Kaufmann, in R. E. J. iv. 208-225, xxxv. 256-263;
  * Mortara, in Berliner's Magazin, xiv. 11-24;
  * Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, i. 43a, 74b-75a;
  * Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya, Shalshelet ha-Ḳabbalah, ed. Amsterdam, pp. 48b, 50a, 52-53;
  * Nepi-Ghirondi, Toledot Gedole Yisrael, pp. 34, 210, 271, 296;
  * Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 525a;
  * Steinschneider, Hebr. Bibl. xii. 117, xv. 104;
  * Kerem Ḥemed, ii. 152-153;
  * Conforte, Ḳore ha-Dorot, ed. Cassel, p. 50a;
  * Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. cols. 2052-2053;
  * Kaufmann, in Monatsschrift, xxxix. 350-357;
  * Mortara, Indice, pp. 65-66;
  * Mosè, v. 155; vi. 52, 264, 338;
  * Zunz, Literaturgesch. pp. 507, 588.



E. C. S. O.