Illustration from Kehunat Avraham (The Priesthood of Abraham)
Abraham ben Shabbetai Kohen
1719

Creator Bio
Abraham ben Shabbetai Kohen
Abraham ben Shabbetai Kohen was born in Crete. He studied medicine at the University of Padua and subsequently settled on the island of Zante, then under Venetian rule, where he practiced as a physician. Abraham was also a poet, artist, and scholar. His Kehunat Avraham (The Priesthood of Abraham) is an interpretation and retelling of sections from the book of Psalms in verse. The book includes various engravings, among them the poet’s self-portrait and possibly others by the author himself. The adaptation of Psalms is followed by a similar reworking of Perek shirah (Chapter of Song, an early medieval text in which all elements of creation praise God), entitled Bene Keturah (Children of Keturah).
Related Guide
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Jewish printing unified far-flung communities by standardizing religious texts, created textual uniformity, and enabled vernacular translations, and facilitated the spread of Jewish texts and knowledge.
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Early Modern Jewish Languages (1500–1750)
As Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews migrated eastward, Yiddish and Ladino emerged as distinct languages. Both languages developed literary traditions, as print became more widespread.
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