Abraham Saba

Born and raised in Spain, Abraham ben Jacob Saba settled in Porto, Portugal, and then, escaping the forced conversions of 1497, fled to Morocco. While living in Portugal, he wrote a number of surviving kabbalistic commentaries on various books of the Bible and a commentary, Tseror ha-mor (Bundle of Myrrh), on the Mishnaic tractate Pirke avot (Chapters of the Fathers). He later rewrote some of his works from memory in Morocco, as his original manuscripts had been left behind, buried under an olive tree. Saba died on a ship en route to Verona. Eshkol ha-kofer (Cluster of Henna) is a commentary on the five scrolls.