Ephraim Alnaqua

Rabbi Ephraim ben Israel Alnaqua (1359–1442)[1] (Hebrew: אפרים בן ישראל אלנאקוה, romanized: Efrayim ben Yisra'el 'alnakuvah) (also, "Al-Nakawa", "Al-Nakava", "Ankava", "Ankoa", "Enkaoua", "Alnucawi", etc., Hebrew: "נקוה", "אלנאקוה", "אנקווה", "אנקאווא") was a physician, rabbi, theological writer, and founder of the Jewish community at Tlemçen (Algeria), where he died in 1442.

Refusing the reward of gold and silver offered him by the king, he begged only that the Jews living near Tlemçen might be united in it.

Alnaqua's grave, surrounded by those of his family, is in the old cemetery: it is sacred to North African Jews, and is frequently visited but is currently closed[update] by pilgrims from all Algeria.

The latter lived at Oran, Mostaganem, and, later, at Tlemçen, and became the father-in-law of the son of Solomon ben Simon Duran.

Alnaqua wrote for his elder son Israel Shaar Kevod Adonai (Entrance to the Glory of God), containing answers to the criticisms of Nahmanides on the Moreh of Maimonides.