1 Elul 5780

Today, 326 years ago, in the year 1694, Rabbi Shmuel Aboab, passed away in Venice.

Aerial view of the Jewish ghetto Venice, Italy; the ghetto – one of Europe’s oldest neighborhoods where Jews were forced to live segregated from Christians, and the first one to be called a “ghetto” – has become popular with international visitors, especially American Jews. MUST CREDIT: Davide Calimani/Courtesy of the Committee for the celebration of the 500th anniversary and Coopcultura.

R’ Shmuel Aboab, is quite known for his fight against the Sabbatean and Frankist movements in his time.

The Chida, claims that R’ Shmuel is the author of Sefer Hazichronos, which was printed in Prague 1680.

Sefer Hazichronos was aimed at the Italian Jewry, who at the time had fallen low in their observance, due to the Renaissance movement. The sefer reminds the fellow Jew about his obligations, the do, and don’ts of life. We can see from the don’ts that the situation in Italy was very bad, which is also pointed out by his contemporaries, like R’ Leon Modena and others.

Source: Shem Hagedolim; Gvul Binyamin 47.