- Isaac Luria
Rabbi Isaac Luria was a Jewish mystic in Safed. His name today is attached to all of the mystic thought in Safed: while his literary contribution to the Kabbalistic school of Safed was extremely minute (he only wrote a few poems), his fame led to the school and all its works being named after him. The main popularizer of his ideas was Hayim Vital, though Vital's claim to be the official interpreter of the Lurianic system was not undisputed.
- Nahmanides
Nahmanides was a Catalan rabbi, philosopher, physician, Kabbalist and biblical commentator. "Nahmanides " is the common name for Moshe ben Nahman Gerondi; the name is a Greek translation of the Hebrew "Ben Nahman", meaning "Son of Nahman". He is also commonly known as Ramban (רמב"ן), being an acronym of his Hebrew name and title, …
- Moses de Leon
Moses de Leon (ca. 1250-1305), known in Hebrew as Moshe ben Shem-Tov, was a Spanish rabbi and Kabbalist who is thought of as the composer or redactor of the Zohar. It is a matter of controversy if the Zohar is his own work, or that he committed traditions going back to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in writing. His other works include "Sefer ha-Rimon", written in Hebrew. He was born in León, Spain (hence his surname), …
- 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.
- Bahya ben Asher
Bahye ben Asher or Bahye ben Asher ben Halawa also known as the Rabbeinu Behaye, born about the middle of the thirteenth century at Saragossa, died 1340, was a 13th century rabbi and scholar of Judaism. He was a commentator on the Hebrew Bible and is noted for introducing Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) into study of the Torah. He is considered by Jewish scholars to be one of the most distinguished of the Biblical exegetes of Spain.
- Moses ben Jacob Cordovero
Moses ben Jacob Cordovero or Moshe Cordevero (Hebrew: משה קורדובירו) known by the acronym the Ramak (רמ"ק), was one of the most prominent scholars of early modern Kabbalah. He belonged to a circle of Jewish mystical thinkers in 16th-century Safed. His birthplace is unknown, but the name Cordovero indicates that his family originated in Córdoba, …
- 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 Kimhi
David Kimhi (Hebrew: דוד קמחי, also Kimchi or Qimchi, also known by the Hebrew acronym as the RaDaK (רד"ק), was a medieval rabbi, biblical commentator, philosopher, and grammarian. Born in Narbonne, Provence, he was the son of Rabbi Joseph Kimchi and the brother of Rabbi Moses Kimchi, both biblical commentators and grammarians.
- Abraham Ibn Ezra
Abraham ben Meir ibn Ezra (1092 or 1093-1167), was one of the most distinguished Jewish men of letters and writers of the Middle Ages. Ibn Ezra excelled in philosophy, astronomy/astrology, medicine, poetry, linguistics, and exegesis; he was called "The Wise", "The Great" and "The Admirable Doctor". He was born at Tudela, (current day province of Navarra) when the town was under Muslim rule.
- Eliyahu de Vidas
Eliyahu di Vidas (1518-1592) was a medieval rabbi. He was a disciple of Rabbis Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (known as the "Ramak") and Isaac Luria. di Vidas is known for his work in the Kabbalah. He wrote the Reshit Chochmah. He lived in Safed and Hebron, and was one of a group of prominent Kabbalists living in Hebron during the late 16th and early 17th century.
- Nissim Of Gerona
Rabbi Nissim ben Reuven
- Menahem Recanati
Menahem ben Benjamin Recanati was an Italian rabbi who flourished at the close of the thirteenth century and in the early part of the fourteenth. He was the only Italian of his time who devoted the chief part of his writings to the Kabbala.
- Joseph Ibn Shem-Tov
Joseph ibn Shem-Tov was a prolific Judæo-Spanish writer born in Castile. He lived in various cities of Spain: Medina del Campo de Leon (1441); Alcala di Henares (1451); Segovia (1454). Though it is not known precisely what office he held at court, he occupied a position which brought him in contact with distinguished Christian scholars.
- 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, …
- Moses Ibn Ezra
Rabbi Moses ben Jacob ibn Ezra, known as ha-Sallah ("writer of penitential prayers") was a Jewish, Spanish philosopher, linguist, and poet. He was born at Granada about 1055 - 1060, and died after 1138.
- Moses Kimhi
Moses Kimhi (died c. 1190) was a medieval Jewish biblical commentator and grammarian. Kimhi was the eldest son of Joseph Kimhi and the brother of David Kimhi, known as the "RaDaK". He was born and lived in the Provence region of southern France, and area that was heavily under the influence of the Spanish-Jewish community of that time. Like his father, he wrote a number of commentaries on the Bible, basing himself on the literal meaning of the text.
- Shlomo ben Aderet
Shlomo ben Aderet or omitted altogether. Aderet sometimes is spelled Adret or Adereth. Occasionally the name Avraham or Abraham is included before Aderet.</ref> (1235 — 1310) was a Medieval rabbi, halakhist, and Talmudist. He is widely known as the Rashba (Hebrew: רשב״א), the Hebrew acronym of his title and name: Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet.
- Joseph Kimhi
Joseph Kimhi (1105 - 1170), was a medieval Jewish rabbi and biblical commentator. He was the father of Moses and David Kimhi, and the teacher of Rabbi Menachem Ben Simeon. Kimhi was born and lived in the Provence region of southern France, at a time when the local Jewish population was under the considerable influence of the neighboring Spanish-Jewish community to the South. He is known to have written commentaries on all the books of the Bible, …
- Israel Isserlin
"Terumat HaDeshen" is written as 354 responsa. Note that Rabbi Isserlin himself actually wrote both the questions and the answers (responsa generally being filled with questions asked by others). The work is named for the practice in the Temple in Jerusalem of removing a part of the previous day's ashes from the furnace - 354 is the numerical value of "Deshen". "Terumat HaDeshen" serves as an important source of the practices of the Ashkenazi Jews.
- Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla
Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla (1248-ca. 1305) ("the little") was a Spanish kabbalist, student of Abraham Abulafia.
- Aharon Halevi
- Yom Tov Asevilli
Yom Tov Asevilli or Yom Tov ben Avraham Asevilli (or Yom Tov the son of Abraham Asevilli), (1250-1330), who is commonly known to scholars of Judaism as the Ritva (an acronym of his Hebrew name), was a medieval rabbi and "Halakhist" famous for his commentary on the Talmud. The name "Asevilli" (sometimes pronounced "Ishbili") is a Hebrew rendering of the Arabic "Isbili", meaning "from Seville".
- Tosafists
Tosafists were medieval rabbis who created critical and explanatory glosses on the Talmud. These were collectively called Tosafot.
- Gersonides
Levi ben Gershon, better known as Gersonides or the Ralbag, was a famous rabbi, philosopher, mathematician, astronomer/astrologer, and Talmudist. He was born at Bagnols in Languedoc, France.
- Meir Ben Ezekiel Ibn Gabbai
Meir ben Ezekiel ibn Gabbai was a Kabbalist born in Spain toward the end of 1480, and living probably in the East. He complained in his twenty-seventh year that he had to work hard to support himself and his family (see end of "Tola'at Ya'aḳob"). He was an enthusiastic cabalist, noted for thorough mastery of the whole cabalistic lore, the most important points of which he, as far as can be judged now, was the first of his generation to treat systematically.
- Rashi
Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi, better known by the acronym Rashi, (February 22, 1040 - July 13, 1105), was a rabbi from France, famed as the author of the first comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud, Torah and Tanakh. Acclaimed for his ability to present the basic meaning of the text in a concise yet lucid fashion, Rashi appeals to both learned scholars and beginning students, and his works remain a centerpiece of contemporary Jewish study.
- Rashbam
Rashbam is a Hebrew acronym for רבי שמואל בן מאיר (Rabbi Shmuel son of Meir) (c.1085 - c.1158). His father was Meir ben Shmuel and his mother was Yocheved, the daughter of Rashi. Like his grandfather Rashi, the Rashbam was a biblical commentator and Talmudist. He was also a leading French Tosafist. He was the older brother of the Tosafist Rivam and the Tosafist Rabbeinu Tam, also known as Jacob ben Meir.
- Jacob ben Asher
Jacob ben Asher, in Hebrew "Ya'akov ben Asher", (1270-ca 1340) was an influential Medieval rabbinic authority. He is often referred to as the "Baal ha-Turim" ("Master of the Turim (Pillars)"), after his main work in halakha (Jewish law), the Arba'ah Turim. He was the third son of the Rabbi Asher ben Jehiel (known as the "Rosh"), a German-born Rabbi who moved to Spain.
- Eliezer ben Nathan
Eliezer ben Nathan of Mayence (1090-1170), Ra'aven (ראב"ן), was a halakist and liturgical poet. As an early Rishon, he was a contemporary of the Rashbam and Rabbeinu Tam, and one of the earliest of the Tosafists. He was the son-in-law of Rabbi Eliakim b. Joseph of Mayence, a fellow student of Rashi.
- Asher ben Jehiel
Asher ben Jehiel was an eminent rabbi and Talmudist best known for his abstract of Talmudic law. He is often referred to as Rabbenu Asher, “our Rabbi Asher” or by the Hebrew acronym for this title, the ROSH
- Bahya Ibn Paquda
Bahya ben Joseph ibn Paquda, known to Talmud scholars (in Hebrew) as the "Rabbeinu Bechaya" ("Our Rabbi Behaya"), was a Jewish philosopher and rabbi who lived at Saragossa, Spain, in the first half of the eleventh century.
- Bezalel Ashkenazi
Bezalel Ashkenazi, a rabbi and scholar of the Talmud, lived in the Land of Israel during the 16th century. He is best known as the author of "Shittah Mekubetzet", a commentary on the Talmud. He is very straightforward in his writings and occasionally offers textual amendments to the Talmud. His most important disciple was the famous Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria.
- Amnon Of Mainz
Amnon of Mainz or Amnon of Mayence is the subject of a medieval legend that became very popular. It treats of Rabbi Amnon, a wealthy and respected Jew of Mainz, whom the Archbishop of Mainz, at various times, tried to convert to Christianity. On one occasion Amnon evasively asked to be given three days' time for consideration. When he failed to appear on the appointed day, the archbishop had him brought guarded into his presence.
- Elazar Rokeach
Eleazar ben Judah ben Kalonymus of Worms (ca. 1176-1238) was a leading Talmudist and kabbalist, and the last major member of the "Chassidei Ashkenaz" ("Righteous Ones of German[ic] Jewry"), a group of Jewish German pietists.
- Isaac Alfasi
Sefer ha-Halachot extracts all the pertinent legal decisions from the three Talmudic orders Moed, Nashim and Nezikin as well as the tractates of "Berachot" and "Chulin" - 24 tractates in all. Alfasi transcribed the Talmud's halakhic conclusions verbatim, without the surrounding deliberations; he also excludes all Aggadic (non-legal, homiletic) matter as well as discussion of the halakha practicable only in Land of Israel.
- Rabbeinu Tam
Jacob ben Meir Tam, universally known as Rabbeinu Tam (Hebrew: רבינו תם) was one of the Baalei Tosafos whose commentary appears in every edition of Talmud opposite the commentary of Rashi. He was also a renowned Rabbinic authority and communal leader.
- Joseph Albo
Joseph Albo was a rabbi who lived in Spain during the fifteenth century, known chiefly as the author of the work on the Jewish principles of faith, "Ikkarim" ("Principles"). Monreal, a town in Aragon, is generally assumed to have been his birthplace. Astruc, in his report of the prolonged religious debate held at Tortosa in 1413-14, mentions Albo as one of the Jewish participants, and says that he was the delegate of the congregation of Monreal.
- Isaac ben Samuel
Isaac ben Samuel the Elder of Dampierre (Hebrew: יצחק הזקן בן שמואל), known as the or "Ri" (ר"י הזקן) was a French tosafist and Biblical commentator. He flourished at Ramerupt and Dampierre in the twelfth century.
- Gershom ben Judah
Gershom ben Judah best known as Rabbeinu Gershom and is also commonly known by the longer title Rabbeinu Gershom Me'Or Hagolah (Our teacher Gershom the light of the exile) to scholars of Judaism. He was a famous Talmudist and Halakhist. Rabbeinu Gershom was the head of a "yeshiva" in Mainz.
- Ibn Tibbon
Ibn Tibbon, is a family of Jewish rabbis and translators that lived principally in Provence in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.