- 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. - Shmuel Eliyahu
Shmuel Eliyahu is the Chief Rabbi of Safed in Israel. - 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. - 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, … - Menachem Mendel Of Vitebsk
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk (1730 - 1788) was an early leader of Hasidic Judaism. Part of the third generation of Hasidic leaders, he was the primary disciple of Dovber of Mezeritch. From his base in Minsk Menachem Mendel was instrumental in spreading Hasidism throughout White Russia. In the winter of 1772 he, along with Shneur Zalman of Liadi went to the Vilna Gaon, trying to get him to rescind his ban on Hasidism, but the Vilna Gaon would not receive them. - Jacob Berab
Jacob Berab, also Jacob Berav, Yaakov Berav, Yaakov Bei Rav, Talmudist and rabbi; born at Moqueda near Toledo, Spain, in 1474; died at Safed April 3, 1546. - Esther Ofarim
Esther Ofarim (born Esther Zaied, 13 June 1941 in Safed) is an Israeli female vocalist. She met Abi Ofarim, a guitarist and dancer, in 1959 and subsequently married him. With her husband and without him she began to sing Hebrew and international folk songs. In 1960 Esther got a small role in the film "Exodus". In 1961 Esther won the Song Festival in Tel Aviv, where she sang "Saeni imcha bemachol" and "Neama". - Luzzatto
Luzzatto or Luzzatti was a family of Italian-Jewish Talmudic scholars, whose genealogy can be traced back to the first half of the sixteenth century. According to a tradition communicated by S. D. Luzzatto, the family descends from a German Jew who immigrated into Italy from the province of Lausitz, and who was named after his native place ("Lausatia", "Lausiatus" = "Luzzatto"). - 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. - Alexander Kohut
Alexander Kohut (April 22, 1842, Felegyhaza, Hungary - May 25, 1894, New York) was a rabbi and orientalist. He belonged to a family of rabbis, the most noted among them being R. Israel Palota, his great-grandfather, R. Amram (called "The Gaon," who died in Safed, Palestine, where he had spent the last years of his life), and R. Chayyim Kitssee, rabbi in Erza, who was his great-granduncle. The last-named was the author of several rabbinic works. - Yitzhak Frenkel
Yitzhak Frenkel (1899-1981) (variant names Isaac Frenel, Isaac Fraenkel, Yitzhak Frenel, Yitshak Frenkel-Frenel, Alexandre Frenel, Izhak Frenel) was an important Israeli painter, born in 1899 in Odessa, Ukraine. He was a great-grandson of the famed Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev. In 1917, he studied under Aleksandra Ekster at the Art Academy in Odessa. - Abi Ofarim
Abi Ofarim (born Abraham Reichstadt, October 10, 1937 in Safed, British Mandate of Palestine) is an Israeli musician and dancer. At the age of 12, he attended ballet school, and made his debut on stage in Haifa at 15. By the age of 17 he was arranging his own choreography, and by 18 had his own dance studio. After he married Esther Ofarim he achieved some international fame, performing with her as a musical duo, … - Moshe Shamir
Moshe Shamir (September 15, 1921 - August 20, 2004) was an Israeli author, playwright, opinion writer, and public figure. He was one of the most important Israeli writers of modern times. Moshe Shamir was born in Safed. He went to the Tel Nordau School and graduated from the Herzliya Hebrew High School in Tel Aviv. In the Israeli War of Independence he served in Palmach. He began his political career as a member of the movement Hashomer Hatzair, … - David Ben Solomon Ibn Abi Zimra
Rabbi David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra also called the Radbaz (רדב"ז), was a Jewish Spanish scholar. He was born in Spain about 1479; died in Safed in 1573. He was thirteen years of age when his parents, banished from Spain, settled in Safed, where he studied under the direction of Joseph Saragossa. Later, he moved to Cairo, and in 1514 was serving there as a member of the beth din presided over by the "nagid" Isaac Sholal. - Meir Baranes
Meir Baranes (born 1968) is an Israeli who is notable for declaring Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson to be God, and for placing a curse on Pope John Paul II during a visit to Israel in 2000. He is a former member of the Israeli paratroopers. Baranes, a native of Safed, came to public prominence in March, … - Leo Kahn
Leo Kahn (1894-1983) was a German-Israeli painter, born in 1894 in Bruchsal, Germany. He served in the German army in 1914, then studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe between 1919-1920 under the tutelage of Albert Hueinsen. Kahn travelled to Berlin (where he met and befriended Max Lieberman), Holland, and France in search of artistic inspiration. In 1926, he was commissioned for the decoration of an important synagogue in Bruchsal. - Ehud Segev
Ehud Segev (born 1979) is an Israeli-born mentalist and performer. Born in Safed, at 12 was performing Tarot readings for friends and neighbors. After predicting the mayoral election results he explained that he used his mental ability to analyze the candidates. The press called him "The Mental Analyzer" which soon shortened to the Mentalizer. Segev later moved to New York City where he premiered his "Mentalizer Show" off-Broadway in the summer of 2004 at Theater Row. - Hayyim ben Joseph Vital
Rabbi Chaim ben Yosef Vital (1543 in Safed-23 April 1620 in Damascus) was one of the most famous exponents of Kabbalah. As a young boy, Rabbi Chaim Vital was educated by the scholar, Rabbi Moses Alshech. Other than that, most of his early life is full of legends. For instance, it is claimed that at the age of twelve, he was told by a chiromancer that when he reached the age of twenty-four, he would find himself standing before two roads, … - Jacob Saphir
Jacob Saphir (Hebrew: יעקב הלוי ספיר) was a rabbi and traveler of Rumanian descent, born in Oshmyany, government of Wilna. While still a boy he went to Palestine with his parents, who settled at Safed, and at their death (in 1836) he removed to Jerusalem. In 1848, he was commissioned by the Jewish community of the latter city to travel through the southern countries to collect alms for the poor of Jerusalem. - Moshe Ziffer
Moshe Ziffer, (1902-1989) was a modern Israeli artist and sculptor. Ziffer was born 24 April 1902 in Przemysl, Austro-Hungary. He immigrated into Eretz-Israel in 1919. Between 1924-33 he studied sculpture in Vienna, Berlin and Paris. He created the stone sculptures at Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Ziffer bequeathed his sculpture garden in Safed to the Safed Municipality. - Shimshon Holzman
Shimshon Holzman (1907-1986) (variant name Shimson Holzman) was an Israeli landscape and figurative painter, born in 1907 in Sambir, Galicia. He immigrated to Israel from Vienna, Austria in 1922, settled in Tel-Aviv, and began working as a house painter with his father. In 1926, Holzman began private studies under Yitzhak Frenkel at the studio of painting arts of the Histadrut School where he also worked with Mordechai Levanon, Ziona Tajar, … - 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. - Dhaher El-Omar
Dhaher El-Omar (Arabic ظاهر العمر الزيداني "<u>z</u>āhir al-`umar az-zaydānī", born ca. 1690, died August 21, 1775) was the Arab-Bedouin ruler of the Galilee district of the southern Levant or Palestine region during the mid-18th century. The founder of modern Haifa, he fortified many cities, among them Acre. Dhaher was born to a family of local notables in the Tiberias area, … - Joseph Kossonogi
Joseph Kossonogi (1908-1981) (variant names Yosef Kossonogy, Yossef Kossonogi) was an Israeli painter, born in 1908 in Budapest, Hungary. After studies at the Berlin Academy of Art and advanced studies in France, Holland, Italy and Spain, he immigrated to Israel and settled in Tel-Aviv in 1926. There he formed the collective of young painters known as Massad. In 1929, the Massad group had its first exhibition and, in 1935, … - 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, … - Samuel Vital
Samuel ben Hayyim Vital was a Kabalist born in Damascus in the latter half of the sixteenth century. While still young he married a daughter of Isaiah Pinto, rabbi of Damascus. Poverty compelled him to emigrate to Egypt, where, through the influence of prominent men, he was placed in charge of the cabalistic society Tiḳḳune ha-Teshubah. After a brief residence there he went to Safed, where he instructed the physician Joseph Zemah in Kabala. - Yisroel Ben Shmuel Of Shklov
Yisroel ben Shmuel Ashkenazi of Shklov was a Talmudist, one of a group of Talmudical scholars of Shklov who were attracted to Vilna by Elijah Gaon (1720-97). Ashkenazi was one of "the last arrivals," and attended upon the gaon as a disciple for less than a year. He gained Elijah's confidence, and was chosen to arrange for publication the gaon's commentary to the first two parts of the "Shulchan Aruch". That on the "Orach Chaim" was published in Shklov in 1803. - Levi Ibn Chaviv
Rabbi Levi Ibn Habib was rabbi of Jerusalem; born at Zamora, Spain, about 1480; died at Jerusalem about 1545. Under King Manuel of Portugal, and when about seventeen, he was compelled to submit to baptism, but at the first opportunity fled to Salonica, where he could follow the dictates of his conscience in safety. In 1523 he went to Jerusalem, but in a short time returned to Salonica. - Mordechai Avniel
Mordechai Avniel (1900-1989) (variant name Mordecai Avniel) was an Israeli painter and sculptor, born in 1900 in Minsk, present-day Belarus. He studied fine arts in Yekaterinburg, Russia (1913-19) and at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem (1923). Avniel immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1921 where he first worked as a pioneer in citrus plantations near Petah Tikva. In 1923, at the urging of Boris Schatz, … - Abraham ben Mordecai Galante
Abraham ben Mordecai Galante was an Italian kabalist born in Rome at the beginning of the 16th century. Abraham, like his father Mordecai and his brother Moses, rabbi of Safed, is represented by his contemporaries as a man of high character who led a holy life (comp. "Ḳab ha-Yashar," ch. xv.). He was the author of the following works: * "Ḳin'at Setarim," a commentary on Lamentations, based upon the Zohar, … - Said Khoury
Said Khoury, born in 1923 in Safed in the northern Palestine, is a prominent Greek Orthodox Palestinian Christian entrepreneur. He was educated at American University of Beirut, and was one of the three founders of the Consolidated Contractors International Company in 1952. - David Solomon Eibenschutz
David Solomon Eibenschutz (Hebrew: דוד שלמה אייבשיץ) was a Russian rabbi and author, pupil of Rabbi Moses Tzvi Heller, and author of "Geon Ẓebi." He occupied the position of rabbi in Buzhanow, Soroki (Volhynia), and Jassy, (Rumania). From the last-named city he went to Palestine and remained there until his death (in Safed). He was the author of many kabalistic and Talmudical works, which still exist in manuscript. - Solomon Ayllon
Solomon Ayllon (born in the Orient 1664 (1660?); died Amsterdam, April 101728) was "haham" of the Sephardic congregations in London and Amsterdam, and a follower of Shabbethai Ẓebi. His name is derived from a town in the Spanish province Segovia, of the name of Ayllon. Ayllon was neither a general scholar nor a Talmudist of standing, as his "responsa" (found in Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen's "Keneset Yeḥezkel," Nos. - Hassib Sabbagh
Hassib Sabbagh came from a Christian family in Safed in Palestine, although he was born in Tiberias. He graduated from the Arab College of Jerusalem in 1938, and in 1941 gained a civil engineering degree from the American University of Beirut. In 1943, with four other contractors, he established the Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) in Haifa. Sabbagh left Palestine in April 1948 and moved to Lebanon. - Issachar Ben Mordecai Ibn Susan
Issachar ben Mordecai ibn Susan (Hebrew: יששכר בן מרדכי אבן שושן) was a Jewish mathematician, living in Palestine. In early youth he removed from the Maghreb, perhaps from Fez, to Jerusalem, where he became a pupil of Levi ibn Ḥabib. From there he went to Safed, where, under great hardship, he continued his studies. But his increasing poverty induced him, in 1539, to leave Safed and seek a living elsewhere. - Yisroel Halpern
Yisroel Halpern, also known as Yisroel Karduner (d. 1920), was a rabbi and Breslover Hasid who lived in Ottoman Palestine at the turn of the century. He was the teacher of Rabbi Yisroel Ber Odesser, and brought many other people closer to the Hasidut through his intense devotions and beautiful songs. - Meir Ashkenazi
Meir Ashkenazi was a sixteenth century Crimean Jew. An envoy of the Khan of Crimea in the sixteenth century, Ashkenazi was killed by pirates on a voyage from Gava (near Genoa) to Dakhel (probably Dakhel or Dakleh in the western oasis of Upper Egypt), between the 15th and the 25th day of Tammuz (July), 1567. From the testimony of the witness Elias ben Nehemiah, given before the board of rabbis in Safed in the case of the widow and heirs of the slain Meïr Ashkenazi, … - Nehemiah Hayyun
Nehemiah Hiyya ben Moses Hayyun (ca. 1650-ca. 1730) was a Bosnian kabalist. His parents, of Sephardic descent, lived in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where probably he was born, although in later life he pretended that he was a Palestinian emissary born in Safed. He received his Talmudic education in Hebron. - Joseph Shalit Riqueti
Joseph Shalit ben Eliezer Riqueti (Richetti) was a Jewish-Italian scholar born at Safed, and who lived in the second half of the 17th century at Verona, where he directed a Talmudical school. He was the author of "Ḥokmat ha-Mishkan" or "Iggeret Meleket ha-Mishkan" (Mantua, 1676), on the construction of the First Temple. He also published a map of Palestine which Zunz supposes to have been prepared as one of the illustrations of a Passover Haggadah. - Levi Najara
Levi Najara was a Spanish rabbi who emigrated in 1492 to Palestine, probably to Safed. He was the father of Moses Najara I.
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