Creator Bio

Me’am Lo’ez

1730–1899

Me’am Lo’ez (From a People of Strange Language) is a multivolume popular biblical commentary and the most influential classic of Ladino literature. The main purpose of this series (1730–1899) was to provide basic Jewish education to Sephardim who were not fluent in Hebrew. Me’am Lo’ez follows the standard subdivision of biblical text into weekly portions that are accompanied by commentary, rabbinic writings on practical and legal aspects of Judaism, ethical teachings, and entertaining stories from rabbinic sources.

The project, begun in 1732 by Jacob Huli, was completed by Isaac ben Moses Magriso, on Exodus, Leviticus (1753), and Numbers (1764), all of them published by a prominent but impoverished press in Istanbul. Magriso shows interest in history, science, and etiquette, and also in miracles and supernatural phenomena.

Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator

Primary Source

Introduction to the Commentary on Numbers—Me’am Lo’ez by Isaac Magriso

Public Access
Text
The introduction to the first volume of this work, which you already have, explains that one must know what mitzvot God commanded us to perform, and what he obliged us to avoid, to find…
Painting of two men seated at a table with another man standing behind them, and woman in doorway carrying tray of tea.
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