According to a tradition of the ʿAntebi family, its roots go back to the expulsion from Spain in 1492. Some members of the family settled in the small town of ʿAyn-Ṭab (Good Source), known today as Gaziantep, in Turkey. Later, on moving from ʿAyn-Ṭab to Aleppo, the family was renamed ʿAntebi, and its original Spanish name was forgotten. The first known member of the family was Rabbi Raḥamim ʿAntebi (1554–1627). Succeeding generations produced many famous Torah scholars, rabbis, and leaders of the Jewish communities in Aleppo, Safed, and Tiberias.

Rabbi Abraham ʿAntebi was born in 176…