JACOB NAZIR:
By: Richard Gottheil, S. Kahn
French exegete; flourished in the second half of the twelfth century; one of the five sons of Meshullam ben Jacob of Lunel. "Jacob of Lunel" would accordingly be only another designation for "Jacob Nazir." Jacob Nazir wrote certain Biblical commentaries, including commentaries on Genesis (Neubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No. 1646, 2) and Job (see Zunz, "Z. G." p. 74). An explanation by him of a prayer in the ritual, given to a certain Moses ben Isaiah, is also extant (Maḥzor Vitry, ed. Hurwitz, p. 368). Isaac ben Samuel of Acre (c. 1300) is said to have described him as one of the most prominent cabalists, and Abraham ben David is said to have been one of his pupils. It is, however, very doubtful whether Jacob Nazir had anything to do with Cabala.
- Grätz, Gesch. vi. 203;
- Gross, in Monatsschrift, xxiii. 172 et seq.;
- idem, Gallia Judaica, p. 279;
- Steinschneider, Jewish Literature, pp. 144, 167, 306;
- Winter and Wünsche, Die Jüdische Litteratur, iii. 257;
- Zunz, Ritus, p. 197.
