Isaac ben Abraham Akrish (Hebrew:יִצְחַק בֵּן אַבְרָהָם עַקְרִישׁ;c. 1530 – after 1578) was aSephardiJewish scholar, bibliophile, and editor.
Isaac ben Abraham Akrish was born inSalonika, the son ofexiles from Spain who settled there in 1495 after briefly living inNaples.
Thoughlame in both legs, Akrish travelled extensively throughout his life. His primary interest was inmanuscripts which he attempted to save from destruction.[1] The course of his tiresome travels at length brought him toCairo,Egypt. There he was taken into the house of theRadbaz (David ibn Abi Zimra), an immigrant who had attained to a high communal position. An avid bibliophile, Akrish spent his money onscribes whom he hired to copy the Radbaz's manuscripts, amassing a large collection of documents.[2]
Akrish remained at Cairo as private tutor to the Radbaz's children and grandchildren for about ten years (about 1543–1553), until his patron's emigration to theLand of Israel. Akrish then left forConstantinople, stopping inCandia. There, his books were confiscated by the Venetian government in the wake of the recent decree byPope Julius III to burn theTalmud. After successfully regaining his collection, he settled in Constantinople whereEsther Handali andJoseph Nasi supported his efforts to amass manuscripts.[2] Most of his books were destroyed in a catastrophic fire in 1569 which devoured almost the whole Jewish quarter; he left Constantinople forKastoria where he lived in poverty for the rest of his life.[1]
In his later life Akrish edited a series of books and documents he had collected during his travels.[1] In about 1577 he published a collection of ten documents (afterward calledKobetz Vikkuḥim), containing notably the satirical letter addressed byProfiat Duran to his former friend David En-Bonet,Al Tehi ka-Avotekha ('Be Not Like Thy Fathers'). The same volume contained, also, the proselyting epistle of the apostateAstruc Remoch to his young friend En-Shaltiel Bonfas, the satirical reply to it bySolomon Bonfed, a polemical letter ofShem-Tov ibn Falaquera, andKunteres Ḥibbut ha-Kever by Akrish himself.
He also edited a second collection of documents, largely of a historical character. The first part bore the titleMa'aseh Beit David, and contained the history ofBostanai; the second, that ofKol Mebasser, comprisinga correspondence betweenHasdai ibn Shaprut and the king of theKhazars that he had recovered in his travels;[3] and the letter ofElijah of Ferrara. In addition to other works, Akrish is said to have edited a triple commentary upon theSong of Songs along with a few other Hebrew polemical works.[4]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Enelow, H. G. (1901–1906)."Akrish, Isaac b. Abraham". InSinger, Isidore; et al. (eds.).The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
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