Abraham ben Yechiel-Michel Catz Ha Cohen of Lask 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 Eretz Yisrael, 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, and died in Safed, in 1799; there he was buried. He did not have children. Abraham 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.