Zechariah ben Judah Aghmati (Hebrew: זכריה אגמאתי), also spelled Agamati, was a Rabbi and Talmudist who lived from 1120 CE - 1195 CE in Morocco.
Works
R. Zechariah's major contribution was the Sefer Ha-Ner, a supercommentary on the Halachot of Isaac Alfasi.[1] The work is extremely significant from a historical perspective as it is the first known compilation work on the Talmud. This Shittah Mekubbetzet genre grew in the 12th and 13th century and reached a pinnacle of popularity in the 15th century. His sources are almost all Sephardic and include: R. Chananel ben Chushiel, R. Barukh ha-Sefardi, R. Isaac ibn Ghiyyat, Joseph ibn Migash, Maimonides' Perush ha-Mishnayot,Rashi, and Hai Gaon and the Geonim. The quotes are all in the original, either Hebrew or Arabic, and R. Zechariah’s own comments are also in Arabic. However, most printed editions are translated into Hebrew.
In Aghmat, in the year 1190, he wrote a Talmudic commentary on Babha Kamma, Babha Mesi'a and Babha Bathera of the Babylonian Talmud.[2][3] Aghmat-Ourika was the place where the Jews of Marrakesh lived until the Saadian sultan invited them to come and live in Marrakech itself.
Bibliography
Editions of Sefer ha-Ner
Arranged in reverse chronological order:
Sefer ha-Ner al Massekhet Shabbat, S. Eidenson Jerusalem, 2010
Shittah Mekubbetzet Kadmon: sefer ha-ner, massekhet Bava Kamma, ed. Dov Zeev Havlin, Jerusalem, Institute for the Complete Israeli Talmud (Yad ha-Rav Herzog) 2009/10, 358 pp
S. Assaf, "Chelek miPirush Kadmon le-Massekhet Berachot le-Echad mi-Bnei Zemano shel ha-Rambam", in Le-Zikhron R' Z. P. Chayyes, Jerusalem 1933
Yehoshua Hutner, "Sefer ha-Ner le-Rabbenu Zechariah Aghmati", in Sefer Zikkaron le-R. Yitzchak Yedidyah Frankel, Tel Aviv 1992 (contains first chapter of Bava Kamma)
Y. Malchi, "Rashi's Commentary to Tractate Berachot Included in Sefer Haner of R. Zecharyah Agamati" [in Hebrew], Alei Sefer, vol. 17, 1993, p. 85-95.
References
^Everyman's Judaica: An Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1975, p. 15
^Haim Zafrani, Two thousand years of Jewish life in Morocco, p. 3
^A Digest of Commentaries on the Tractates Babha Kamma Babha Mesi'a and Babha Bathera of the Babylonian Talmud Compiled by Zachariah Ben Judah Aghmati (London: The Trustees of the British Museum, 1961)