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Avigdor Kara

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gravestone in Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague

Avigdor ben Isaac Kara was a mystic, poet, philosopher and rabbi from Prague and a forerunner of the Jewish renaissance.[1] He was chief rabbi of the Prague Jewish community and a Kabbalist, and attended audiences with Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia during which they discussed religious matters.[2] He was friends and colleagues with Yom-Tov Lipmann-Muhlhausen and Menahem ben Jacob Shalem. Kara's frequent travels led to the loss of many of his manuscripts.[3] His uncle was said to be Judah Leib the Elder.[4] He led a life of poverty and collections were taken up on his behalf from Jewish communities.[5]

He wrote in both Hebrew and Yiddish.[6] He was a composer of hymns.[3] His most famous poem, entitled Et Kol Hatela'ah Asher Meza'atnu or "All the Hardships that Befell Us" or "All the Trouble That Has Found Us" was an elegy concerning the Easter pogrom that took place in Prague in 1389. He died in 1439 and is buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague, of which his is the oldest identified grave.[7][8][9][10][11] The elegy he wrote has become part of mahzors and Yom Kippur services.[12] It was cited by David Gans. He is considered the last Ashkenazi payyetan, or composer of piyyutim or liturgical poems, of which 8 survive.[13]

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References

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  1. ^ Visi, Tamás (2022), "Kara, Avigdor", in Sgarbi, Marco (ed.), Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 1775–1776, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-14169-5_174, ISBN 978-3-319-14169-5, retrieved 2025-05-05
  2. ^ Theisen, Maria (2024), Kügle, Karl; Ciulisová, Ingrid; Žůrek, Václav (eds.), "The Making of the Wenceslas Bible, with Special Consideration of the Theological Concept of Its Genesis Initial", Luxembourg Court Cultures in the Long Fourteenth Century, Performing Empire, Celebrating Kingship, Boydell & Brewer, pp. 243–281, doi:10.2307/jj.10782305.14, retrieved 2025-05-05
  3. ^ a b Talmage, Frank (1992). "Angels, Anthems, and Anathemas: Aspects of Popular Religion in Fourteenth-Century Bohemian Judaism". Jewish History. 6 (1/2): 13–20. doi:10.1007/BF01695206. ISSN 0334-701X. JSTOR 20101116.
  4. ^ Sherwin, Byron L. (2001). "The Legacy of Rabbi Judah Loew of Prague". European Judaism: A Journal for the New Europe. 34 (1): 124–130. doi:10.3167/001430001782384955. ISSN 0014-3006. JSTOR 41443521.
  5. ^ "ḲARA, ABIGDOR BEN ISAAC - JewishEncyclopedia.com". www.jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2025-05-05.
  6. ^ Davis, Joseph M. (1993). "Philosophy, Dogma, and Exegesis in Medieval Ashkenazic Judaism: The Evidence of "Sefer Hadrat Qodesh"". AJS Review. 18 (2): 195–222. doi:10.1017/S036400940000489X. ISSN 0364-0094. JSTOR 1486571.
  7. ^ Valley, Eli (1999). The Great Jewish Cities of Central and Eastern Europe: A Travel Guide and Resource Book to Prague, Warsaw, Crakow, and Budapest. Jason Aronson. ISBN 978-0-7657-6000-5.
  8. ^ Talmage, Frank; Studies, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval (1999). Apples of Gold in Settings of Silver: Studies in Medieval Jewish Exegesis and Polemics. PIMS. ISBN 978-0-88844-814-9.
  9. ^ Greenblatt, Rachel L. (2014-02-26). To Tell Their Children: Jewish Communal Memory in Early Modern Prague. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-8881-6.
  10. ^ Kieval, Hillel J. (2000-12-26). Languages of Community: The Jewish Experience in the Czech Lands. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-21410-1.
  11. ^ Gruber, Ruth Ellen (2007). Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern Europe. National Geographic Books. ISBN 978-1-4262-0046-5.
  12. ^ Adler, Jeremy (2005). "What Was Lost? The Czech Jewish Community". European Judaism: A Journal for the New Europe. 38 (2): 70–76. doi:10.3167/001430005781203907. ISSN 0014-3006. JSTOR 41443754.
  13. ^ "Kara, Avigdor". The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Retrieved 2025-05-05.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "ḲARA, ABIGDOR BEN ISAAC". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

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