ALNAKAR, ABRAHAM BEN JOSEPH

ALNAKAR, ABRAHAM BEN JOSEPH (1740?–after 1803), Sephardi liturgical scholar. Alnakar was born and brought up in Fez. From there he went to Algiers but returned to Fez by 1783, in which year he began to travel extensively. He was in Tlemcen in 1783, in Tunis in 1785, in Melian, in Tripoli the following year, and again in Tunis in 1788. From there he proceeded to Leghorn where he remained until his death. For a number of years he engaged in publishing. In 1789, he went into partnership with Jacob Benaim of Morocco and they published, at their own expense, Tikkunei ha-Zohar. They used the Constantinople edition of 1719 including the glosses of Jacob Vilna and Moses Zacuto. Alnakar added an introduction to the book, and songs of his own, which he printed in the book. The partnership was probably unsuccessful, since in 1791 his partner, together with Ḥayyim Abraham Israel Ze'evi, a Jerusalem emissary, published the Zohar with the glosses of Ḥ.J.D. *Azulai. Alnakar turned to the publication of prayer books. He became friendly with Azulai, receiving glosses to the festival prayers. In 1798 he published a prayer book for the New Year and the Day of Atonement, with his own commentary, Zekhor le-Avraham. This commentary appeared in almost every edition of the High Holy Day liturgy published in Leghorn, as well as in the Tripoli festival prayer book. In addition he published a small prayer book for the New Year and the Day of Atonement according to the rite of Argil (Leghorn, 1803). In the same year he published festival prayer books according to the rites of the Sephardim of Tunis and of Tlemcen. His Afra de-Avraham has remained in manuscript. He also drew a design of the Temple candelabrum with a kabbalistic commentary, of which he published a lithographic edition.

bibliography:

J. Ben-Naim, Malkhei Rabbanan (1931), 18b; M. Benayahu, Rabbi Ḥ.Y.D. Azulai (Heb., 1959), 204–5.