Abraham (Ben Gedaliah) Ben Asher (= Aba)

A commentator; native of Safed, Syria; held rabbinical office at Aleppo in the second half of the sixteenth century. He was a pupil of Joseph Caro (1488-1575), with whom in later years he maintained a learned correspondence. Abraham wrote a commentary on the Midrash Rabbot, entitled  ("The Light of Reason"), only a part of which—that on Genesis Rabbah—has been published under the subtitle "Ma'adanne Melek" (Royal Delicacies), Venice, 1567, by his brother-in-law, Senior ben Judah Falcon of Venice. The other parts of the commentary are still extant in manuscript, and include also a midrashic commentary attributed to Rashi.

Bibliography:

  * Roest, Catalog der Rosenthal'schen Bibliothek, i. 24;
  * Benjacob, Oẓar ha-Sefarim, p. 28.



W. B.