Tzeror HaMor [Kabbalistic commentary to the Chumash].

SABA, AVRAHAM.

Daniel Bomberg

Venice

1523

Vinograd, Venice 86.

Exiled from his native Castile, no sooner did Saba take refuge in Oporto, Portugal, than King Emanuel ordered (24th December, 1496) all Jews converted and all Hebrew books burned. Saba’s sons were forcibly baptized and his extensive library plundered. He managed to save his own works in manuscript, and buried them outside Lisbon. However, in time, he was forced out of Portugal altogether and settled in Fez, Morocco, where he attempted to recommit from memory the works he was forced to abandon in Portugal. After residing in Fex for ten years, Saba traveled to Italy. In the midst of a storm, the captain of the vessel requested that the rabbi pray for the safety of the passengers. Evidently, Saba struck a deal with the captain that in exchange for his prayers, the captain would not - if it became necessary - bury him at sea as was the sea-faring custom. Sure enough Saba died while at sea, and the captain, kept his word, and brought him for burial to the Jewish community of Verona. See N.S. Libowitz, R. Avraham Saba U’Sepharav (1936).