Jafb, Mardechai Ben-abraham

Jafb, Mardechai ben-Abraham a famous Jewish author, resided in 1561 at Venice, whence, during a persecution of the Jews, he retreated to Bohemia, and became rabbi in the synagogues of Grodno, Lublin, Kremnitz, and Prague. He is the author of the Lebushim, a series of ten works, which hold a high place in the classics of modern Judaism. The general title of the series is לבוש מלכות, Royal Apparel, from Es 8:15; and the collection itself is sometimes called לבוש or ספר הלבושים. It consists of

(1) Lebush tekeleth, or "the Purple Robe;"

(2) Lebush ha-chor, or "the White Vestment;"

(3) Lebush atereth zahab, or "the Crown of God;"

(4) Lebush butz veargaman, or "the Vestment of fine linen and purple;" (5) Lebush ir Shushai, or "the Vestment of the City of Shushan." These five treatises turn upon the objects of the ritual codices of the Arba Turim of Jacob ben-Asher (q.v.), and the Shulchan Aruch of Joseph Karo (q.v.). The remaining five lebushinz are exegetical, cabalistic, and philosophical. See Furst, Bibl. Jud. 2:7 sq.; Etheridge, Introduction to Hebrew Literature, page 457; De' Rossi, Dizionario Storico (Germ. transl.), page 136. (B.P.)