ר׳ יצחק אבוהב

ר׳ יצחק אבוהב (1433–January 1493), often called the last Gaon of Castile, was a leading Spanish rosh yeshiva, halakhist and biblical commentator. Born in Toledo, he studied under ר׳ יצחק קנפנטון and succeeded him in leadership of the Castilian academy. He taught for periods in Toledo, Buitrago and Guadalajara, transmitting the disciplined Talmudic method of late medieval Castile. His pupils included ר׳ אברהם זכות, while ר׳ יצחק אברבנאל studied with or consulted him shortly before the expulsion. Later authorities, including ר׳ יוסף קארו, treated his rulings with exceptional respect. His Torah scholarship survives in a supercommentary on the Pentateuch commentary of ר׳ משה בן נחמן, homiletical material titled נהר פישון, notes on the Tur and manuscript rulings. When the 1492 expulsion decree was issued, ר׳ יצחק joined a delegation of roughly thirty prominent Jews that negotiated with John II in Lisbon for the admission of Spanish refugees to Portugal. He and close associates received permission to settle at Porto. He died there only about seven months after leaving Spain, in January 1493; his disciple ר׳ אברהם זכות delivered the funeral address. His final journey made him both a scholar of Castile’s closing generation and an early leader of its displaced community.