Abraham Bukrat

Abraham Bukrat was forced to leave his home in Málaga, Spain, in 1492. He first lived in Algiers, then Oran and Tlemcen, before settling in Tunisia, where he served as a rabbi and teacher. Abraham wrote a well-known and meticulous supercommentary on Rashi’s biblical commentary (Sefer ha-zikaron), which he finished in Tunisia in 1507. He was also a talented poet, and some of his poems have been preserved in manuscript, among them works composed in both Spain and North Africa. These include a long and detailed lament describing the expulsion from Spain, an important historical source that includes information about the fate of the exiles as well as data regarding their numbers, and another praising the rabbi of Málaga. He also penned riddles, using wordplay and linguistic games. However, the gloomy atmosphere in which the Jews of Spain lived before the exile permeates some of his poetry, which at times calls upon his fellow Jews to improve their ways.