ר׳ שמואל אבוהב

ר׳ שמואל בן אברהם אבוהב (1610–1694), known through his responsa דבר שמואל, was one of seventeenth-century Italy’s leading halakhic authorities. Born in Hamburg to a prominent Portuguese converso family, he was sent at thirteen to Venice to study under ר׳ דוד פרנקו, whose daughter he later married. He served for many years as rabbi of Verona, earning a reputation that drew students and questions from across Italy. In 1643 he organized assistance and ransom efforts for Jews of Kroměříž captured during the Thirty Years’ War, part of a lifelong commitment to communal charity and support for the Jews of ארץ ישראל. Called to Venice in 1650, he became av bet din and a central authority within the city’s cosmopolitan rabbinic world. During the Sabbatean crisis he opposed the movement and participated in the 1668 examination of נתן העזתי in Venice. His hundreds of responsa address ritual, communal and commercial problems across an extensive Mediterranean correspondence network. Near the age of eighty he temporarily left Venice under obscure circumstances, then returned before his death on 22 August 1694. His son ר׳ יעקב אבוהב published דבר שמואל in Venice in 1702 together with biographical and ethical material.