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erab, jacob ben Ḥayyim
part was published (by Y.L. Maimon (Fishman) in Sinai, 36
(1955), 275–357). His responsa and his novellae to tractate
Kiddushin were published together (1663). These novellae
were republished from a manuscript in an enlarged form by
Michael Rabinowitz (in Y.L. Fishman (eds.), Sefer ha-Yovel…
B.M. Levin (1939), 196–299). Many of his halakhic decisions
are reported in the works of his contemporaries, especially
Joseph Caro.
Berab’s grandson, JACOB BEN ABRAHAM (d. 1599), rabbi
and halakhic authority, studied under Joseph Caro and was
ordained by him. From 1563 he is mentioned in documents
with the more important rabbis of Safed. By 1593 he was the
most prominent of Safed’s scholars and it was he who gave
semikhah. He ordained R. Moses Galante, R. Eliezer Azikri,
his own brother R. Moses Berab, R. Abraham Gabriel, R. Yom
Tov Ẓahalon, R. Ḥiyya ha-Rofe, and R. Jacob Abulafia, all of
Safed. In 1599 these seven rabbis reached an agreement not
to ordain any other person without his approval. None of his
writings remains, but his approvals of the decisions of his contemporaries,
as well as some of his responsa scattered in the
works of contemporary scholars, are known.
Bibliography: J. Newman, Semikhah (Eng., 1950), includes
bibliography; Graetz, Hist, 6 (1949), index, s.v. Jacob Berav, Gruenhut,
in: Ha-Ẓofeh me-Ereẓ Hagar, 2 (1912), 25–33; Katz, in: Zion, 16:3–4
(1951), 28–45; Benayahu, in: Sefer Yovel… Y. Baer (1960), 248–69;
Dimitrovsky, in: Sefunot, 6 (1962), 117–23; 7 (1963), 41–102; 10 (1966),
113–92; Teshuvot RalbaḤ (Venice, 1565), including a report of the controversy
at the end.
BERAB (Beirav), JACOB BEN ḤAYYIM (end of 17th–18th
century), poet and hymnologist. A descendant of R. Jacob *Berab,
Berab was born in Safed. He left Palestine with his fatherin-law
R. Ḥayyim b. Moses *Abulafia before 1710 and settled
in Smyrna (Izmir), Turkey. In 1740 they returned to Palestine
and helped found the new Jewish settlement at Tiberias. Berab
recorded all the events of the journey to Tiberias and their
subsequent settlement in Zimrat ha-Areẓ (Mantua, 1745, etc).
He also noted interesting details of the wars between the governor
of Damascus, Soliman Pasha (1741–43), and the sheikh
of Galilee, Dahr al ʿAmr. The purpose of his work was to call
to the attention of the Diaspora the importance of the resettlement
in Tiberias. Appended to the published editions were 12
of his poems in Hebrew and Ladino praising the resettlement
and Tiberias. Some of these poems were, until recently, sung
to a special folk tune in the Balkan countries.
Bibliography: J.b.Ḥ. Berab, Zimrat ha-Areẓ, ed. by M.
Benayahu (1946), introduction; Shalem, in: Hed ha-Mizraḥ, 2 no.
9 (1943), 9; Baron, in: Sefer ha-Yovel… A. Marx (1943),79; Ben Zvi,
Ereẓ Yisrael, 308–11.
[Abraham David]
BERAḤ DODI (Heb. יִ דֹ וּד חרְ ַּב;
“make haste my beloved,” Song
of Songs 8:14), ge’ullah piyyut in the morning prayer of the
first day of Passover in the Ashkenazi rite. It consists of three
stanzas based upon the allegorical interpretation of the central
motif of *Song of Songs according to which “the beloved” is
the people of Israel and the “lover” is God. Israel implores the
“lover” to hasten his return to his “beloved.” It made use, at the
end of each stanza, of the text of Song of Songs: “Behold he
standeth behind our wall” (2:9); “Hark! my beloved! behold,
he cometh” (2:8); “This is my beloved, and this is my friend”
(5:16). On the basis of the initials interwoven in this piyyut
(קזח הרותב ֹ לדגי המלש), the authorship has been ascribed to the
10th-century liturgical poet Solomon b. Judah ha-Bavli. Another
ge’ullah piyyut in the morning prayer of the second day
of Passover recited outside Ereẓ Israel (Ashkenazi rite), and
composed by *Meshullam b. Kalonymus (c. 1000 C.E.), bears
the same name. This piyyut of four stanzas is based upon the
same motif as the aforementioned one. A third piyyut by the
same name is recited on the Sabbath during the Intermediate
Days of Passover. This was composed by Simeon b. Isaac,
who also lived in the 10th century.
Bibliography: Service of the Synagogue, tr. by I. Zangwill
(London, 1954), 202.
BERAJA, RUBEN EZRA (1939– ), Argentinean community
leader and Zionist activist. Born in Ciudadela, Province
of Buenos Aires, to a family from Aleppo, Syria, from an early
age Beraja was active in Jewish public life and after graduating
as a lawyer from the University of Buenos Aires he joined
the management of the Cooperativa Mayo, a credit cooperative
established in 1961 that used its profits to support the Sephardi
Jewish school network and for other beneficial activities.
Beraja, who was the youngest member of the board, was
soon appointed president of the cooperative. He continued to
fill this position when the cooperative was transformed into
the Banco Mayo (1978), acting in this capacity until the bank
went bankrupt in 1998.
In the late 1960s Beraja was invited by Rabbi Itzhak Schehebar,
the spiritual leader of the Aleppine community, to join
the board of directors of the Congregación Sefaradí Argentina,
becoming an active promoter of its educational and religious
activities. At the same time he became one of the promising
leaders of the Zionist Sephardi movement.
Using the financial success of the Banco Mayo, Beraja expanded
its assistance to the educational, cultural and Zionist
institutions of the Jewish community at large, increasing the
influence of the Orthodox sector and the prestige of the Sephardi
leadership.
In 1991 Beraja was elected president of the *DAIA, becoming
the political representative of Argentinean Jewry. He
was reelected in 1993 and 1996. Acting during the presidency
of Carlos Saúl Menem, he was involved (1992) in the opening
of the archives dealing with the immigration to Argentina of
Nazi criminals in the postwar years under Peron’s presidency.
He also acted in defense of the Jewish community following
the two dramatic events that shook its existence – the explosion
of the Israeli Embassy in March 1992 and of the AMIA
community building in July 1994.
398 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3