Alfes, Isaac

, a rabbi, was born in Africa, in a village near Fez, in 1013. When in his seventy-fifth year, he was involved in a quarrel, which obliged him to go to Spain, where he resided at Cordova. He contributed very much to the reputation of the academy of that place by his learning and works. He died at Lucena in 1103, at the age of ninety. His principal work is an abridgment of the Talmud, so highly esteemed by the Jews, that they study it more than the original, and call it the little Talmud. It has gone through many editions, some with the text only, but mostly with notes. The first and most rare edition is that of Constantinople, 1509; but the most complete, perhaps, is that published by Sabioneta, Venice, 1552. ²