- Yosef Karo
Yosef Caro (sometimes Joseph Caro was one of the most significant leaders in Rabbinic Judaism and the author of the Shulchan Arukh, an authoritative work on Halakhah (Jewish law). Caro was never celebrated as an individual, but as a "meḥabber" (author). Therefore, the name Yosef Caro was only significant in relation to his works. Throughout Jewish history, there has been a tendency to remember figures by their magnum opus. - Chaim Joseph David Azulai
Rabbi Chaim Joseph David ben Isaac Zerachia Azulai (1724 - 21 March 1807), commonly known as the Chida (by the acronym of his name), was a rabbinical scholar and a noted bibliophile, who pioneered the history of Jewish religious writings. - Solomon Luria
Solomon Luria, or Rashal - Moses Isserles
Moses Isserles (or Moshe Isserlis, was a Rabbi and Talmudist, renowned for his fundamental work of "Halakha" (Jewish law), entitled "HaMapah" (lit. "the tablecloth"), a commentary on - and component of - the "Shulkhan Arukh" (lit. "the set table"). He is also well known for "Darkhei Moshe", a commentary on the "Tur". Moses Isserles is also "the ReMA" (or "the RAMA") רמ״א, … - Moshe Chaim Luzzatto
Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707-1746 (26 "Iyar" 5506)), also known by the Hebrew acronym RaMCHaL (or RaMHaL, רמח"ל), was a prominent Italian Jewish rabbi, kabbalist, and philosopher best remembered today for his ethical treatise "Mesillat Yesharim" (Path of the Just). - Jacob Emden
Jacob Emden was a Jewish rabbi, Talmud scholar, and opponent of the Shabbethaians. He was born at Altona June 4, 1697, and died there April 19, 1776. - David Conforte
David Conforte (Hebrew: דוד קונפורטי) was a Hebrew literary historian born in Salonica, author of the literary chronicle known by the title "Ḳore ha-Dorot." - Joshua Falk
Joshua Falk (also: Joshua ben Alexander HaCohen Falk was a Polish Halakhist and Talmudist, best known as the author of the "Beit Yisrael" commentary on the "Arba'ah Turim" as well as "Sefer Me'irat Enayim" (סמ"ע) on "Shulkhan Arukh". His name also occurs as the Hebrew acronym "RaFaK" ("R[abbi]] Falk Kohen") and "Ma-HaRWaK" ("Morenu ha-Rab Walk Kohen"). - Chaim Ibn Attar
Chaim ben Moses ibn Attar was a Talmudist and kabbalist; born at Mequenez, Morocco, in 1696; died in Jerusalem July 31, 1743. He was one of the most prominent rabbis in Morocco. In 1733 he decided to leave his native country and settle in Palestine. En route he was detained in Livorno by the rich members of the Jewish community who established a "yeshiva" for him. - Isaiah Horowitz
Isaiah Horowitz (Hebrew: ישעיה הלוי הורוביץ; c. 1565 - March 24, 1630 / "11 Nissan 5390" on the Hebrew calendar), was a well-known rabbi and mystic. He is also known as Shelah HaKadosh - "the Holy "Shelah" (של"ה) - from the title of his best-known work. - Jonathan Eybeschutz
Jonathan Eybeschutz, was a Talmudist, Halachist and Kabbalist, holding positions as Dayan of Prague, and later as Rabbi of the "Three Communities": Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek. With Jacob Emden, he is well known as a protagonist in the Emden-Eybeschutz Controversy. - Tzvi Ashkenazi
Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch ben Yaakov Ashkenazi (1656, Moravia- May 2, 1718, Lemberg), known as the "Chacham Tzvi" (after a responsa by the same title), for some time rabbi of Amsterdam, was a resolute opponent of the followers of the false messiah, Sabbatai Zevi. He had a chequered career, owing to his independence of character. He visited many lands, including England, where he wielded much influence. His "responsa" are held in high esteem. - Judah Loew ben Bezalel
Judah Lew ben Bezalel ("Judah Loew son of Bezalel", also written as Yehudah ben Bezalel Levai [or Loew], 1525 - 17 September 1609 or 18 Elul 5369 according to the Hebrew calendar) was an important Talmudic scholar, Jewish mystic, and philosopher who served as a leading rabbi in Prague (now in the Czech Republic) for most of his life. He is widely known to scholars of Judaism as the Maharal of Prague, … - David Halevi Segal
David (ben Samuel HaLevi) Segal (Hebrew: דוד הלוי סגל, also known as the "Taz" (Hebrew: ט"ז) or the "Turei Zahav", was a prominent Polish "posek" ("authority on Jewish law"). - Yisroel ben Eliezer
Rabbi Yisroel (Israel) ben Eliezer is considered to be the founder of Hasidic Judaism (see also Mezhbizh Hasidic dynasty). He was born in Okopy, to Eliezer and Sara in a small village that over the centuries has been part of Poland, Russia, Galicia and is now part of Ukraine. He died in Medzhybizh, which had once been part of Lithuania, then Turkey, Poland and Russia, and is now in Ukraine. - Shalom Shachna
Shalom Shachna (d. 1558), was a rabbi and Talmudist, and Rosh Yeshiva of several great Acharonim including Moses Isserles, who was also his son-in-law. - Shalom Sharabi
Sar Shalom Sharabi (the Rashash). Also known as Ribbi Shalom Mizraḥi deyedi`a Sharabi. (Shar'ab, Yemen 1720 - Jerusalem 1777 (10 "shevat" 5537)) was a Yemenite Jewish Rabbi who was a master of Kabbalah, as well as Torah and Talmud. He is primarily known as a Kabbalist, but his rulings on Halakha (Jewish law) were and still are considered to have high authority, particularly among Yemenite Jews, but to some extent among Jews world wide. - Yaakov Culi
Rabbi Yaakov Culi (a.k.a Kuli or Chuli) was a Talmudist and Biblical commentator of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and passed away in Constantinople in August 9, 1732. He belonged to an exiled Spanish family, and was the grandson and pupil of Moses ibn Habib. He edited various important works. The first fruit of his literary activity was the publication of his grandfather's writings. To this end he left Safed, where he seemed to have taken up his abode, … - Meir Lublin
Meir Lublin - Shabbethai Bass
Shabbethai ben Joseph Bass (Hebrew: שבתי בן יוסף), born at Kalisz, was the father of Jewish bibliography, and author of the "Sifsei Chachamim" commentary on the Pentateuch. - Moshe Alshich
Rabbi Moshe Alshich (or Alshech, known as the "Alshich Hakadosh (the Holy)", was a prominent Jewish rabbi and biblical commentator in the latter part of the 16th century. He lived in Safed, Palestine. The Alshich was born in 1508 in Turkey, and was the son of ִHayyim Alshech. He later moved to Safed where he became a student of Rabbi Joseph Caro. His students included Rabbi ִHayim Vital and Rabbi Yom Tov Tzahalon. He died in Safed in 1593. - Joseph Taitazak
Joseph ben Solomon Ṭaiṭazaḳ, also referred to by the acronym "MahaRITaTS", was a talmudic authority and kabalist who lived at Salonica in the 15th and 16th centuries. With his father and his brother he went in 1492 from Spain, his native land, to Salonica, where he became rabbi. He was considered one of the greatest Talmudists of his time, even Joseph Caro invoking his authority ("Abḳat Rokel," § 56). - Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller
Yom-Tov Lipmann ben Nathan ben Moses ha-Levi Heller (b. Wallerstein, Bavaria, 1579; d. Kraków, September 7, 1654) was a Bohemian rabbi and liturgical poet, best-known for writing a commentary on the Mishnah called the "Tosefot Yom-Tov" (1614-7). - Elijah Ba'Al Shem Of Chelm
Elijah Ba'al Shem (d. 1583) was a Polish rabbi who studied under Rabbi Solomon Luria and later became the Chief Rabbi of Chelm. He was a co-signer of the Agunah laws and, according to legend, was able to create a Golem creature with Kabbalah. Many legends surround his life in regards to this creation. Because of his mastery over the names of God, he was the first Rabbi to be given the Baal Shem title. He was the grandfather of Rabbi Tzvi Ashkenazi and his son Jacob Emden. - Yom Tov Tzahalon
Yom Tov ben Moshe Tzahalon (Maharitatz (Hebrew: יום טוב בן משה צהלון) was a student of Moses di Trani and Moshe Alshich, and published a collection of responsa. The Jewish Encyclopedia gives his dates as (1557-1638). At the early age of twenty-five Tzahalon (Ẓahalon) was requested by Samuel Yafeh, a rabbi of Constantinople, to decide a difficult and complicated problem which had been referred to himself (Ẓahalon, … - Avraham Gombiner
Abraham Abele Gombiner (Hebrew: אברהם לוי אבלה הומבינר), known as the Magen Avraham, born in Gąbin (Gombin), Poland, was a rabbi, Talmudist and a leading religious authority in the Jewish community of Kalisch, Poland during the seventeenth century. His full name is Avraham Avli ben Chaim HaLevi from the town of Gombin. There are texts that list his family name as Kalisch after the city of his residence. - Mordecai Yoffe
Rabbi Mordecai ben Avraham Yoffe (Hebrew: מרדכי בן אברהם יפה) was the author of "Levush Malkhut", a ten-volume codification of religious laws that particularly stressed the customs of the Jews of Eastern Europe. Although Rabbi Yoffe was a towering religious figure, his appointment generated a sharp controversy within the community because he was a relative of the Yehudichis. - Kalonymus Haberkasten
Kalonymus Haberkasten was a rabbi and Talmudist in sixteenth century Poland. He was rosh yeshiva in Lemberg, and was later the first rabbi of the city of Ostrog, Volhynia. Haberkasten left Ostrog to assume the position of rosh yeshiva in Brisk; he then went to Palestine, about 1560. Luria succeeded him to the rabbinate in Ostrog. Haberkasten was also a Kabbalist, and is known to have made the acquaintance of the great Kabbalists in the Holy Land, including Chaim Vital. - Shabtai Sheftel Horowitz
Shabtai Sheftel Horowitz was a rabbi and talmudist, probably born in Ostrog, Volhynia. He was the son of the kabbalist Isaiah Horowitz, and at an early age married the daughter of the wealthy and scholarly Moses Charif of Lublin. With his father he seems to have gone to Prague, where he occupied a position as preacher; from Prague he went as rabbi to Fürth, whence he was called to Frankfort-on-the-Main about 1632, and finally to Vienna about 1650. - Isaac Aboab da Fonseca
Isaac Aboab da Fonseca (February 1st, 1605 - April 4th, 1693) was a rabbi, scholar, kabbalist and writer. In 1656, he was one of several elders within the Portuguese-Israelite community in the Netherlands who excommunicated Baruch Spinoza for the statements this philosopher made concerning (the nature of) God. Isaac Aboab da Fonseca was born in the Portuguese town of Castro d'Ayre as Simao da Fonseca, a Christian name. - Samuel de Medina
Rabbi Samuel ben Moses de Medina, was a Talmudist and author; born 1505; died October 12, 1589, at Salonica. He was principal of the Talmudic college of that city, which produced a great number of prominent scholars during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His teachers were the noted Talmudists Joseph Taitazak and Levi Ibn Chaviv, and among his schoolmates were Isaac Adarbi, Joseph ibn Leb, and Moses Almosnino. - Jacob Joshua Falk
Jacob Joshua Falk (also: Yaakov Yehoshua ben Tzvi Hirsch, or Yaakov Yehoshua Falk - see Note on the name "Joshua Falk".) 1680 - January 16, 1756) was a Polish and German rabbi and Talmudist. - Isaac Ha-Kohen Rapoport
Isaac ben Judah ha-Kohen Rapoport was a rabbi who lived in the Land of Israel, of the eighteenth century; born and died at Jerusalem, a pupil of R. Hezekiah da Silva. After a journey to Europe in behalf of the Chalukkah fund (ḥaluḳḳah fund), he was elected rabbi of Smyrna, where he remained forty years. At an advanced age he returned to Jerusalem, where he was appointed to a rabbinate. He was the author of a work entitled "Batte Kehunnah". - Aaron Alfandari
Aaron ben Moses Alfandari was a Talmudic writer born in Smyrna. He emigrated to Palestine in his old age, where he met Azulai. He was the author of two works: * "Yad Aharon" ("Aaron's Hand"), a collection of notes on "Ṭur Oraḥ Ḥayyim" (the first part of which was published in Smyrna in 1735, and the second in Salonica in 1791) and on "Ṭur Eben ha-'Ezer" (Smyrna, 1756-66) * "Mirkebet ha-Mishneh" ("The Second Chariot"), … - Yoel Sirkis
Bayit Chadash, Rabbi Sirkis's best known work, is a major commentary on the "Arba'ah Turim" of Jacob ben Asher. The work presents and elucidates the fundamental principles of the Torah as recorded in the Mishnah, the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, and the chief codes. Rabbi Sirkis also wrote: *"Hagahot haBach" (Glosses of the Bach) - suggestions for textual emendations in the Talmud and Rashi, … - Yaakov Reischer
Jacob ben Joseph Reischer (Bechofen) (1661-1733) was an Austrian rabbi and halakhist born at Prague. He was the son of R. Joseph, author of "Gib'ot 'Olam," and a pupil of R. Simon Spira of Prague, who gave him in marriage the daughter of his son Benjamin Wolf. Reischer was dayyan at Prague, whence he was called to the rabbinate of Rzeszow in Galicia, deriving his name Reischer from that city, which is known as Reische among the Jews. - Hillel ben Naphtali Zevi
Hillel ben Naphtali Zevi was a Lithuanian rabbi. He was born at Brest-Litovsk in 1615; died at Zolkiev January 3 1690. After he had studied under Hirsh Darshan, Hillel went to Vilna, where from 1650 to 1651 he was a member of the rabbinical college. He stayed at Wilna until 1666, then became rabbi in Kėdainiai and several other Lithuanian towns, was called in 1670 as rabbi to Altona and Hamburg, and in 1680 to Zolkiev. - Gedaliah Ibn Yahya ben Joseph
Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph (Hebrew: גדליה בן יוסף אבן יחייא) was a talmudist born at Imola, Italy. He studied in the yeshibah at Ferrara under Jacob Finzi and Abraham Rovigo and Israel Rovigo. In 1549 he settled in Rovigo, where he remained until 1562, in which year the burning of the Talmud took place in Italy. He then went to Codiniola, and three years later to Salonica, whence he returned in 1567 to his native town. - Joshua ben Israel Benveniste
Joshua ben Israel Benveniste (c. 1590-c. 1668) was the brother of Chaim Benveniste, and a disciple of Joseph Trani. He was a physician and rabbi at Constantinople in 1660, and was the author of the following works: "Ozne Yehoshua" ("The Ears of Joshua"), sermons for the Sabbath and special occasions (Constantinople, 1677); "Sedeh Yehoshua" ("Fields of Joshua"), a commentary on several tracts of the "Talmud Yerushalmi" (ib. - Joshua Höschel ben Joseph
Joshua Höschel ben Joseph was a Polish rabbi; born in Wilna about 1578; died at Cracow August 16, 1648. In his boyhood he journeyed to Przemysl, Galicia, to study the Talmud under Rabbi Samuel ben Phoebus of Cracow. He returned to his native country, and continued his Talmudic studies in the city of Lodmir (Vladmir, Volhynia) under Rabbi Joshua Falk. After his marriage to the daughter of Rabbi Samuel of Brest-Litovsk he became rabbi of the city of Grodno, …
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