Ḳara, Simeon

French rabbi; lived in Mans in the eleventh century; brother of Menahem ben Ḥelbo and father of Joseph Ḳara. For the meaning of his surname see Ḳara, Joseph. Isaac de Lattes, in his "Ḳiryat Sefer," counts Ḳara among the prominent French rabbis, although no work of his has survived. Rapoport identified him with the compiler of the Yalḳuṭ Shim'oni, on account of the similarity of some Midrashic quotations in this work with citations in Rashi's Bible commentary. Abraham Epstein has, however, shown that in the manuscripts the name "Ḳara" does not occur, and in place of "Simeon" the reading "Simson" at times is found.

Bibliography:

  * Zunz, G. V. p. 313;
  * idem, Z. G. p. 61;
  * Rapoport. Kerem Ḥemed, vii. 4 et seq.;
  * Kirchheim, in Orient, Lit. iv. 253;
  * Geiger, Niṭ'e Na'amanim, German part, p. 8;
  * idem, in Z. D. M. G. xxviii. 300;
  * Weiss, in Bet Talmud, ii. 35;
  * Brüll's Jahrb. viii. 113;
  * Abraham Epstein, in Ha-Ḥoḳer, i. 85 et seq.



G. I. Br.