Simeon ben Helbo Kara was a French
rabbi who lived in
Le Mans in the 11th century; brother of Menahem ben Helbo and father of Joseph Ḳara. Isaac de Lattes, in his
Ḳiryat Sefer, counts Ḳara among the prominent French rabbis, although no work of his has survived. J.L. Rapoport identified him with the compiler of the Yalḳuṭ Shim'oni, on account of the similarity of some
Midrashic quotations in this work with citations in
Rashi's
Bible commentary.
Abraham Epstein has, however, shown that in the manuscripts the name "Ḳara" does not occur, and in place of "Simeon" the reading "Simson" at times is found.
The surname Ḳara is usually taken to be a professional name, meaning 'reader' or 'interpreter of the Bible'. Adolf Jellinek the Austrian rabbi and historian points out, however, that Ḳara, as contrasted with Derash, means the 'representative of the Peshaṭ.
Sources
Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
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Leopold Zunz, Leopold, Gottesdienstliche Vorträge p. 313
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Zunz, Zur Geschichte und Literatur p. 61
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J.L. Rapoport. Kerem Ḥemed, vii. 4 et seq.
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Kirchheim, in Literaturblatt des Orients iv. 253
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A. Geiger, Niṭ'e Na'amanim, German part, p. 8
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Geiger, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft xxviii. 300
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I.H. Weiss, in Bet Talmud, ii. 35
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Brüll's Jahrbücher für Jüdische Geschichte und Litteratur viii. 113
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Abraham Epstein, in Ha-Ḥoḳer, i. 85 et seq.
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Chaim Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ed. Benjacob, i.36
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David Conforte, Dore ha-Dorot (see index in Cassel ed.)
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Frumkin, Eben Shemuel, pp. 67 et seq., 125 et seq., Vilna, 1874
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Michael, Heimann Joseph, (1891) Or ha-Ḥayyim, Frankfort-on-the-Main (in Hebrew), No. 612
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Luncz, in Jerusalem, ii.23-27
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Responsa of Yom-Tov Zahalon, No. 160
