Ẓarfati

Oriental Jewish family, traced by the bibliographer Azulai to a line of French rabbis descended from Rashi through his grandson Rabbenu Tam.

Elijah Ẓarfati:

Moroccan Talmudist; chief rabbi of Fez about 1770; grandson of Samuel Ẓarfati.

Joseph Ẓarfati:

Turkish rabbinical scholar; lived at Adrianople in the early part of the seventeenth century. He was the author of a collection of sermons entitled "Yad Yosef" (1617).

Samuel Ẓarfati:

Chief rabbi of Fez in the eighteenth century; died 1713; grandson of Vidal Ẓarfati II. He wrote a work entitled "Nimmuke Shemu'el," in which he defended the opinions of Maimonides.

Vidal Ẓarfati I.:

Moroccan Talmudist; lived at Fez in the sixteenth century. He is the earliest known member of the family.

Vidal Ẓarfati II.:

Chief rabbi of Fez; grandson of Vidal Ẓarfati I.; lived about 1660. He was the author of "Ẓuf Debash," a commentary on the Talmud.

Ẓemaḥ Ẓarfati:

Talmudic author and chief rabbi of Tunis in the early part of the eighteenth century; remarkable for the number of his pupils. In the latter part of his life he dwelt for several years at Damascus; but his last days were passed at Jerusalem. Some of his manuscript notes were published in the latter part of the eighteenth century by Joseph Cohen Tanugi in his "Bene Yosef."

Bibliography:

  * Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, s.v.



D. M. Fr.