Apt
APT
APT (Heb.עִיר אַט or אַט), small town near Avignon, in southern France. Evidence of a Jewish community in Apt dates from a regulation of the second half of the 13th century prohibiting the sale to Christians of meat killed for Jews. In 1348, at the time of the *Black Death, many of the Jews were victims of an anti-Jewish riot. A synagogue existed there in 1416. The tax register of 1420 indicates that 15 Jewish families were then living in Apt, which was, apparently, fourth in order of importance among the Jewish communities in *Provence. The Jewish quarter began near the present-day Place du Postel. Possibly a second one was situated beside the Bouquerie quarter. The Apt community is mentioned by the poet *Isaac b. Abraham ha-Gorni (end of the 13th century). Samuel b. Mordecai of Apt corresponded with Solomon b. Abraham Adret.
bibliography:
Gross, Gal Jud, 37–38; Hildenfinger, in: rej, 41 (1900), 65; E. Boze, Histoire d'Apt (1813), 156–7, 163 ff., 219; F. Sauve, Monographie… Apt (1903), 32–33; Schirmann, Sefarad, 2 (1956), 476.
[Bernhard Blumenkranz]