Aharon Perez

Aharon Perez
Personal life
Died	1766 Djerba, Ottoman Empire
Occupation	Author
Religious life
Religion	Judaism

Aharon Perez (French: Aron Perez; died 1766) was a Tunisian rabbi, author, and a member of the Jewish community in Djerba.[1]

Biography

According to an oral account, Perez was originally from Fez, Morocco. He is said to have left the country with Masa'ud Raphael Alfasi and Shimon Lavi for Eretz Yisrael, to settle in Jerusalem. However, after seeing the deteriorated condition of the Jewish communities in North Africa, they decided instead to spread Jewish teachings in the communities, with Perez settling in Djerba.[2] This legend, however, contradicts historical records that states he was originally from Djerba, the grandson of Shlomo Perez.[3]

In 1758, he wrote a book called Bagdi Ahron (The Garments of Aaron), published in Livorno in 1806 by his grandson, Maimon Perez. His second book, Mishha Ahron (The Anointing of Aaron), was published at the same time.[4] He is known for having established clear religious rules that are still in effect among the Djerban-Jewish community. He forbade the consumption of locusts, which had previously been considered kosher by the locals,[5] and enacted the sounding of the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah.[3]

References

1. Valensi, Lucette (1983). "Le fait divers, témoin des tensions sociales: Djerba, 1892". Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales. 38 (4): 895. ISSN 0395-2649 – via JSTOR.
2. Louanges des Sages (PDF) (in French). Association des Juifs Originaires de Tunisie. p. 2.
3. Valensi, Lucette; Udovitch, Abraham (1984). Juifs en terre d'islam : les communautés de Djerba (in French). Paris: Archives contemporaines. pp. 17–18. ISBN 2-903928-05-3.
4. Sebag, Paul (2002). Les noms des juifs de Tunisie: origines et significations (in French). Paris: Harmattan. p. 117. ISBN 978-2-7475-2595-4.
5. Amar, Zohar (2002). "The Eating of Locusts in Jewish Tradition After the Talmudic Period". The Torah U-Madda Journal. 11: 186–202. ISSN 1050-4745.