Jacob Abendana

Jacob Abendana (1630-1695) was rabbi (haham) of the Spanish Jews in London from 1681. Though he was likely born in Spain, his Marrano family moved to Hamburg when he was a child. He later moved to Amsterdam to assume a position in the Jewish community, which consisted mostly of refugees from the Inquisition. Together with his brother, Isaac Abendana, he wrote Lekket Shikchah, a commentary on the Pentateuch, the Book of Joshua, and part of the Book of Judges.

Abendana maintained friendly correspondence with a number of Christian scholars. With one of them, Antonius Hulsius, he entered into a polemical discussion of the verse in the Book of Haggai: "The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former" (2:9), which Hulsius attempted to prove was a reference to the Church. When Hulsius published the correspondence in 1669, Abendana responded with a Spanish translation of Rabbi Judah Halevi's Kuzari.

In 1681, Abendena was appointed haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in London. Over the following years, he completed a Spanish-language translation of the Mishnah, along with the commentaries of Maimonides and Obadiah of Bertinoro. The work was frequently cited by Christian theologians, though it was never published. Abendana died in London in 1695.