MOTAL, BENJAMIN B. ABRAHAM OF CONSTANTINOPLE:

By: Wilhelm Bacher, Jacob Zallel Lauterbach

Turkish scholar of the first half of the seventeenth century. He is said to have been an exceptional grammarian and to have written certain grammatical works, of which, however, nothing has been preserved. He edited the collection "Tummat Yesharim," containing: (1) "Ohole Tam," responsa and decisions by Jacob Tam ibn Yaḥya; (2) "Derek Tamim," glosses and critical notes to Alfasi's halakot and commentaries; (3) "Siyyuma de-Pisḳa," glosses to responsum 12 of "Ohole Tam"; (4) "Temim De'im," by Abraham b. David; (5) "Ma'amar Kol De'i," by Elijah ha-Levi; and (6) "Kelale Shemuel," by Samuel Sirillo, in addition to notes and emendations to Sifra and Abot de-Rabbi Natan, together with a preface by himself (4 parts, Venice, 1622).

W. B. J. Z. L.