Abraham Saba

Abraham Saba (1440–1508) was a rabbinical scholar in the independent Kingdom Navarre in the late fifteenth century of what is now Spain. Six years after Castille conquored Granada, including the Alhambra palace, from the Moors, and the Jewish community was expelled from Casille and Aragon, Navarre expelled its Jewish population. Rabbi Saba took refuge in Portugal where he met with further misfortune. He settled in Oporto when King Manuel I ordered all Jews to be expelled. His two sons were abducted, legally.

Jewish children were forced to convert to Christianity. All Hebrew books were ordered to be burned by an edict of December 24, 1496. Rabbi Saba's two sons were forcibly taken from him, and he fled from Oporto, abandoning his entire library including his own writings, which he rewrote from memory while in transit in Fex, Marocco.

He fled to Lisbon, but before reaching there was told of a new order of the king decreeing the death of any Jew with whom a Hebrew book or tefillin. phylacteries were found. He hid his manuscripts and tefillin under an olive-tree and entered the city. Upon leaving Lisbon he attempted to recover his hidden treasure, but being discovered by the king's guards, he was thrown into prison, and after a six month confinement was sent across the frontier. He went to Fez, Morocco, where he resided for ten years. Soon after his arrival he fell ill; his great privations and terrible sufferings having undermined his health. He was against conversion even at the cost of life but was non-judgemental of all individuals.