ESPINOSA, BENJAMIN:

By: Gotthard Deutsch

Italian Hebraist of the eighteenth century; member of the rabbinical college at Leghorn. He published "Peri'Eẓ, Hadar," a ritual for certain special occasions, Leghorn, 1762, and "Yefeh Nof," containing seven didactic poems and notes on the chapter in Maimonides' code dealing with the implements of the sanctuary, printed in Isaac Nuñes Vaez's " Siaḥ Yiẓḥaḳ," ib. 1766. A number of Espinosa's works exist in manuscript; as, for instance, "Bet ha-'Ezer," a supercommentary on Abraham ibn Ezra's commentary on the Prophets and the Hagiographa; "Ḳonteros Yesod ha-Ḳiyyum," in which he defends the traditional text of the prayers, Altona, 1768 (see Benjacob, "Oẓar ha-Sefarim," No. 503); "Sha'ar Binyamin," rimed rules for the writing of a Pentateuch-scroll, with a commentary; and "Neweh Ḳodesh," on the architecture of the Second Temple.

D.