Rabbi Abraham ben Yehiel Michel Catz HaCohen of Lask

A common mistake connects Avraham as a son of his BROTHER Shmuel. This is a big mistake. Abraham, Shmuel, and Elazar HaCohen of Lask - were 3 sons of Yechiel-Michel Catz, HaCohen of Lask (The grandson of Yechiel-Michel HaCohen from Nemirov).

DO NOT MERGE WITH ANYONE!

Abraham ben Yechiel-Michel Catz Ha Cohen of Lask (Yechiel-Michel was the grandson of the martyr Yechiel-Michel Ha Cohen of Nemirov). Abraham was a Jewish ascetic who flourished at the end of the 18th century. He went to live at Jerusalem in 1785, but afterward traveled through Europe as an agent for the collection of donations for the Polish Jews in the Land of Israel, making Amsterdam his center; he died as Hakam at Safed, during a riot against the Jews, who had protested against excessive taxation. Another version says he was punished by the Turks, in Jerusalem, (see below) and died in Safed, in 1799, there he was buried. He did not have children.

Abraham (brother of Samuel Catz of Lask) was an ascetic of a remarkable type; he fasted six days of the week, from Sabbath night to Sabbath eve, but feasted quite luxuriously on the Sabbath. Often he devoted entire days and nights to the study of the Torah, standing upright during that time. He took his daily ablutions in the river before offering his prayers in the morning, often breaking through the ice in winter for this purpose. Yet in spite of all this austerity he was a man of uncommon vigor.

Once in the Holy Land, together with a number of Jewish scholars, Abraham was dragged to prison by some Turkish officials, and subjected to the bastinado, for no other reason than that it was the usual method pursued by the Turkish government for extorting money from the Jews. Abraham and another rabbi alone survived. At every stroke received Abraham uttered the rabbinic phrase, גם זו לטובה ("This, too, is for the best"). He was held in reverence by the best men of the time as "the holy man of God."

He published several kabalistic homilies, one under the title of Weshab ha-Kohen ושב הכהן (The Priest Shall Return), Leghorn, 1788; another, Wechishab lo ha-Kohen וחשב לו הכהן (The Priest Shall Reckon), Fürth, 1784; a third, Bet Ya'akob בית יעקב (Jacob's House), Leghorn, 1792; and a fourth, Ayin Panim ba-Torah עין פנים בתורה (Seventy Meanings of the Law), Warsaw, 1797. The last work gives seventy reasons for the order of the sections in the Pentateuch, as well as seventy reasons why the Law begins, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. i.1). All are filled with fantastic numerical and alphabetical combinations.

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אברהם בן יחיאל מיכל הכהן מלאסק

Kabbalist, author & rabbinic emissary, ascetic

Ecnyclopaedia Judaica (1971) 2.148: Abraham ben Jehiel Michael haCohen of Lask.
He died in prison, childless. He left Lask for Fürth ca 1770; Jerusalem ca 1774 or 84.

Leopold Löwenstein, Zur Geschichte der Juden in Fürth, Part III. Section II: Druckwerke: … #305, 1784 (p.72): ……… Der Verfasser, Abraham Kohn von Lask, hielt sich zuerst 14 Jahre in Fürth auf, ging dann nach Jerusalem und kam von da als Sendbote u. a. O. wieder nach Fürth. Das Buch wurde am 30. Schebat (rosh chodesh Adar) 1784 in Fürth beendigt.

Jewish Encyclopedia (1908) ( !! ASSIGNS HIM THE WRONG FATHER !! )

ABRAHAM BEN SAMUEL COHEN OF LASK
By : Kaufmann Kohler A Jewish ascetic who flourished at the end of the eighteenth century. He went to live at Jerusalem in 1785, but afterward traveled through Europe as an agent for the collection of donations for the Polish Jews in Palestine, making Amsterdam his center; he died as ?akam at Safed, Palestine, during a riot against the Jews, who had protested against excessive taxation. He was an ascetic of a remarkable type; he fasted six days of the week, from Sabbath night to Sabbath eve, but feasted quite luxuriously on the Sabbath. Often he devoted entire days and nights to the study of the Torah, standing upright during that time. He took his daily ablutions in the river before offering his prayers in the morning, often breaking through the ice in winter for this purpose. Yet in spite of all this austerity he was a man of uncommon vigor.

Once in Palestine, together with a number of Jewish scholars, Abraham was dragged to prison by some Turkish officials, and subjected to the bastinado, for no other reason than that it was the usual method pursued by the Turkish government for extorting money from the Jews. Abraham and another rabbi alone survived. At every stroke received Abraham uttered the rabbinic phrase, ("This, too, is for the best"). He was held in reverence by the best men of the time as "the holy man of God." He published several cabalistic homilies, one under the title of "Weshab ha-Kohen" (The Priest Shall Return), Leghorn, 1788; another, "We?ishab lo ha-Kohen" (The Priest Shall Reckon), Fürth, 1784; a third, "Bet Ya'a?ob" (Jacob's House), Leghorn, 1792; and a fourth, "'Ayin Panim ba-Torah" (Seventy Meanings of the Law), Warsaw, 1797. The last work gives seventy reasons for the order of the sections in the Pentateuch, as well as seventy reasons why the Law begins, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. i. 1). All are filled with fantastic numerical and alphabetical combinations. Bibliography: Münz, Rabbi Eleazar Shemen Ro?ea?, pp. 29-31; Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. s.v.; Fürst, Bibl. Jud. ii. 223.

The British Library has: Ve-Hashav lo ha-Kohen (Fürth, 1784; 1884), Ve Shav haKohen (Livorno, 1788), Beit Yaakov (Livorno, 1792), Ayin Panim baTorah (Warsaw, 1797).

http://hebrewbooks.org/45352 בית יעקב כץ, אברהם בן יחיאל מיכל

בספרו של פנחס זליג גליקסמן, רבי זאב ליפשיץ, עמודים 38-39 יש מידע בעברית על רבי שמואל הכהן וגם על אחיו אברהם הכהן.