Aaron Garish

Little is known about the early life of Aaron Garish, who lived in Aleppo at the beginning of the sixteenth century. His family may have originated from the land of Israel or Spain. Garish wrote liturgical poems. However, his main work was his commentary on the Torah, Metsaḥ Aharon (Aaron’s Forehead). Written in the vernacular, Judeo-Arabic, the text is more than nine hundred pages long. Each of its sections begins and ends with Arabic poems. Parts of the text are found in ten manuscripts, one written in Marrakesh in 1714. Several indications, for example, the inclusion of halakhic issues, suggest that the commentary is based on sermons given by Garish. It also includes polemics against Karaites and employs dozens of sources. This is the only surviving Syrian biblical commentary from this period and, as such, it offers valuable information about contemporary exegesis as well as of spiritual life.