Saraval

Family of scholars, of whom the following deserve special mention:

Abraham b. Judah Löb Saraval:

Flourished in the sixteenth century. He was the author of a commentary on the "Ma'amadot." The second edition of his commentary is dated 1617, but the place of publication is not known.

Bibliography:

  * Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 709;
  * Roest, Cat. Rosenthal. Bibl. i. 29;
  * Benjacob, Oẓar ha-Sefarim, p. 351;
  * Mortara, Indice, p. 59.



Jacob ben Löb Saraval:

Lived at Cologne; died there 1608 or 1614. He is mentioned in the responsa of Jacob Alpron, "Naḥalat Ya'aḳob." An epitaph in A. Berliner's "Luḥot Abanim" refers, perhaps, to him (Mortara, "Indice," p. 59).

Jacob Raphael b. Simhḥah Saraval:

Rabbi at Venice; born about 1708; died at Venice April, 1782. He published an answer to a treatise by the lawyer Benedetti of Ferrara on the religion and the oath of the Jews. Among his poems should be mentioned a "ḳinah" on the death of sixty-five Jews who perished together in an accident. Shortly before his death he was preparing a treatise on the etymology of the names of the "terafim." A letter by him on the Masorah appears in Kennicott's "Dissertatio Generalis" (Brunswick, 1783). His "Dissertazione sull' Ecclesiaste" was contained in Joseph Almanzi's library, now in the British Museum.

Bibliography:

  * De Rossi, Dizionario;
  * Steinschneider, Hebr. Bibl. vi. 89;
  * Zunz, Z. G. p. 240;
  * Mortara, Indice, p. 59.



Judah Löb Saraval:

Rabbi at Venice; died May 17, 1617. He is quoted in the ritual work "Mashbit Milḥamot," in connection with a question in regard to the ritual bath. He is mentioned also by Joseph di Trani (Responsa, i. 147). Saraval translated into Hebrew Saadia's commentary on Canticles (Venice, 1777). His tombstone was found in the cemetery of Padua by Filosseno Luzzatto; the epitaph was published by Nepi-Ghirondi ("Toledot Gedole Yisrael," pp. 218-219).

The Old Jewish Cemetery at Sarajevo.(From a photograph.)

Bibliography:

  * Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1371;
  * Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, i. 59;
  * Zunz, in Lieberṃann, Volkskalender, 1853, p. 72;
  * Mortara, Indice, p. 59.



Leon Vita Saraval:

Bibliophile; born at Triest in 1771; died Jan. 26, 1851. He was the author of "Discorsi Pronunciati all' Apertura degli Studii della Communità Israelita di Trieste" (Triest, 1811). His son M. Saraval catalogued his father's library between 1851 and 1853, publishing the catalogue at Triest in 1853. The entire library was purchased for the Breslau seminary (1853).

Bibliography:

  * Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 2500;
  * Serapeum, 1853, pp. 280-284, 294-298; 1854, pp. 187-188;
  * Mortara, Indice, p. 59;
  * Zunz, Z. G. pp. 243, 568.



Nehemiah b. Judah Löb, Saraval:

Venetian scholar; died in Venice in 1649. He wrote an approbation to Joseph Solomon Delmedigo's "Elim" (Amsterdam, 1629). He is mentioned in the following responsa collections: Raphael Meldola, "Mayim Rabbim," i. 11; Samuel Aboab, "Debar Shemu'el," No. 19 (Fürst, "Bibl. Jud." iii. 245; Mortara, "Indice," p. 59).

Solomon Ḥai b. Nehemiah Saraval:

Scholar of the seventeenth century; lived at Venice. He is mentioned in the responsa of Samuel Aboab ("Debar Shemu'el," p. 375) and in "Pisḳe Rikanati ha-Aḥaronim," p. 24. He was still living in 1674 (Mortara, "Indice," p. 59).

S. S. O.