ISAAC BEN ABRAHAM DI MOLINA

ISAAC BEN ABRAHAM DI MOLINA (d. before 1580), Egyptian rabbi. Isaac's surname probably derives from the town of Molina in southeast Spain, and it may be assumed that he came to Egypt with the Spanish exiles. His father was a wealthy person and was on friendly terms with the nagid, Isaac *Sholal. Isaac appears to have headed the yeshivah of Solomon *Alashkar. R. Isaac himself was wealthy and for a time was the head of the Egyptian mint, a position which was held by other Jews as well in Egypt in the 16^th century. He is mentioned in the responsa of Moses di *Trani (Resp. Maharit, vol. 2, no. 16) and of Joseph *Caro (Resp. Beit Yosef, ehDinei Ketubbot, 14) as being exceptionally strict with regard to (*Gershom b. Judah's) ban on bigamy, in contrast to Joseph Caro, Moses di Trani, Israel di *Curiel and others, who took a more lenient view. Caro complains that Isaac slighted him and his work Beit Yosef in stating that it was a mere digest of the rulings of his predecessors. Isaac is the author of a commentary on the Mishnah. One of his responsa was published in the Avkat Rokhel (130) of Caro. A number of his responsa have remained in manuscript and three of them have been published (see bibliography). Isaac's name came to the fore during the scandal surrounding the Besamin Rosh (Berlin, 1793), by Saul *Berlin, who falsely claimed the book to contain responsa by *Asher b. Jehiel and his contemporaries which had been collected, annotated, and prepared for publication by Isaac di Molina.

bibliography:

A. David, in: ks, 44 (1968/69), 553–9. add. bibliography: A. David, in: ks, 46 (1971), 580–2; idem, in: ks, 61 (1986), 368–70;. Z. Havlin, Shenaton ha-Mishpat ha-Ivri, 2 (1975), 240–50.

[Abraham David]