Jonathan ben Jacob
JONATHAN BEN JACOB
JONATHAN BEN JACOB (17th century), Hungarian rabbi. Jonathan was born in Ofen, Hungary, where, according to the testimony of David Oppenheim, he was one of the leaders of the community. When Ofen was captured from the Turks by the Austrian emperor Leopold i in 1686, Jonathan was taken captive and was ransomed by the Jews of Nikolsburg. He dwelt for a time in the home of Simḥah Ephraim b. Gershon ha-Kohen *Freudemann in Belgrade and transmitted various customs in his name. Jonathan became known through his Keset Yehonatan (Dyrhenfurth, 1697), a collection of the laws of prayer and moral sayings garnered from the Sefer Ḥasidim and the Shenei Luḥot ha-Berit of Isaiah Horowitz. He also compiled the Neu Maaseh Buch (ibid., 1697), a collection of stories in Yiddish.
bibliography:
M. Brann, in: mgwj, 30 (1881), 543 n. 2; J.J.(L.) Greenwald (Grunwald), Ha-Yehudim be-Ungarya (1913), 27; P.Z. Schwarz, Shem ha-Gedolim me-Ereẓ Hagar, 1 (1913), 81 no. 25; 3 (1915), 326 no. 25.
[Yehoshua Horowitz]