ABRAHAMS, ABRAHAM:

By: Goodman Lipkind

Writer on sheḥiṭah (laws of ritualistic killing of animals); born at Siedlce in Poland, December, 1801, and died at Jerusalem, January 23, 1880. He was familiarly known as Rabbi Abraham, and for nearly half a century he performed the duties of principal shoḥeṭ in London. Owing to the persecution of the Jews by the Russian government, he fled from Poland to England in 1837, and received the appointment of shoḥeṭ at Leeds. Two years afterward he became chief shoḥeṭ of London. As an authority on sheḥiṭah he enjoyed a very wide reputation, being the author of several popular Hebrew works upon this and other Talmudical subjects. His opinions on the minutiæ of the ritual and observances were greatly respected, especially in Poland. His best-known works are "Bet Abraham" and "Yizkor le-Abraham," the latter being his autobiography. A year before his death he settled in Jerusalem, in order to end his days in study in that city. One of his last acts was to present to the Mishkenot Israel Building Society the house he had purchased in the Holy City, directing that it be used in perpetuity as a synagogue. His son by a second marriage was Barnett Abrahams.

G. L.