- 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. - Yehuda Ashlag
Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag or Yehuda Leib Ha-Levi Ashlag also known as the Baal Ha-Sulam, (lit. "Master of the Ladder") - referring to his magnum opus, the Sulam - was an orthodox rabbi born in Warsaw, Congress Poland, Russian Empire), to a family of scholars connected to the Hasidic courts of Porisov and Belz. Rabbi Ashlag lived in Jerusalem from 1922 until his death in 1954 and is considered by many to be a great kabbalist. - Shimon Bar Yochai
Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai, Shimon son of Yohai, Simon son of Yohai or Rashbi, was a famous rabbi who lived in the era of the Tannaim (scholars of the Mishnah) in the area of what is today Israel during the Roman period, after the destruction of the Second Temple. According to the Talmud, he criticized the Roman government and was forced to go into hiding with his son for many years. - Baruch Ashlag
Rabbi Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag (also known as the RABASH) (January 22 1907-September 13 1991) a Kabbalist, the firstborn and successor of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, author of "The Sulam" commentary on the "Zohar". Among his writings: "Shlavey ha Sulam" ("Rungs [of] the Ladder"), "Dargot ha Sulam" ("Steps [of] the Ladder"), "Igrot Rabash" ("Letters [of the] Rabash"). - Vilna Gaon
The Vilna Gaon (April 23, 1720 - October 9, 1797) was a prominent rabbi, Talmud scholar, and Kabbalist. Born Elijah (Eliyahu) ben Shlomo Zalman, he is commonly referred to in Hebrew as "ha'Gaon ha'Chasid mi'Vilna", meaning "the saintly genius from Vilna", or in similar forms (Gaon of Vilna, Gaon mi Vilno, or Vilna Gaon), and as "the Gra" (a Hebrew acronym of "Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu"). - 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), … - Ben Ish Chai
Yosef Chaim (Hebrew: יוסף חיים מבגדאד) was a leading "Hakham" (Sephardic Rabbi), authority on Jewish law (Halakha) and Kabbalist. He is best known as author of the work of Halakha Ben Ish Chai ("Son of Man (who) Lives"), by which title he is also known. - 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, … - Sabbatai Zevi
Sabbatai Zevi, was a Jewish rabbi and Kabbalist who claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. He was the founder of the Jewish Sabbatean movement, and inspired the founding of a number of other similar sects, such as the Donmeh in Turkey. Sabbatai Zevi was born in Smyrna on (supposedly) a Sabbath 9th Av 1626, and died, according to some, on Yom Kippur, September 30 1676, in Dulcigno, a small town in the coastal region of Montenegro. - Shneur Zalman Of Liadi
Shneur Zalman of Liadi (September 4, 1745 – December 15, 1812 O.S.), was an Orthodox Rabbi, and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of Hasidic Judaism, then based in Liadi, Imperial Russia. He was the author of many works, and is best known for "Shulchan Aruch HaRav", "Tanya" and his "Siddur Torah Or" compiled according to "Nusach Ari". He is also known as Shneur Zalman Baruchovitch, Reb Schneur Zalman, RaZaSh, … - 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). - Baba Sali
Baba Sali's third wife, Rabanit Simi Abuhatzeira, who married Baba Sali when she was 15, is living in Netivot. - Yitzchak Kaduri
Yitzchak Kaduri, also spelled Kadouri and Kadourie (Unconfirmed - January 28, 2006), was a renowned Sephardic Orthodox Haredi rabbi and kabbalist who devoted his life to Torah study and prayer on behalf of the Jewish people. He taught and practiced the "kavanot" of the Rashash. His blessings and amulets were also widely sought to cure people of illnesses and infertility. - Abulafia
Abulafia can refer to: # Name of a widely scattered Sephardic Jewish family, one of whose branches, for the sake of clearer designation, bore the surname of ha-Levi. Members of this family were found in various cities of the Orient and in Africa in the sixteenth century. From the data collected by Zunz, "Z. G." pp. 432-434, The first Abulafia lived in the twelfth century in Toledo, and the first Jew to settle in Spain in modern times was an Abulafia from Tunis. - 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. - David Cohen
Rabbi David Cohen (also known as “Rav Ha-Nazir,” The Nazirite Rabbi) was a rabbi, talmudist, philosopher, and kabbalist - Abraham Azulai
Abraham Azulai (Hebrew: אברהם בן מרדכי) was a Kabbalistic author and commentator born at Fez about 1570. - Guillaume Postel
Guillaume Postel (March 25 1510 - September 6 1581), was a French linguist, astronomer, Cabbalist, diplomat, professor, and religious universalist. Born in the village of Barenton in Basse-Normandie, Postel made his home in the vicinity of Paris. Adept at Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac and other Semitic languages, as well as the Classical languages of Ancient Greek and Latin, he soon came to the attention of the French court. In 1536, seeking an alliance with the Ottoman Turks, … - Menachem Mendel Schneersohn
Menachem Mendel Schneersohn (1789-09-09 - 1866-03-17 OS) also known as the "Tzemach Tzedek" was an Orthodox rabbi and the third Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad Lubavitch chasidic movement. - Shmuel Schneersohn
Shmuel Schneersohn (or Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch or The Rebbe Maharash) (1834-04-29-1882-09-14 OS) was an Orthodox rabbi and the fourth Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad Lubavitch chasidic movement. - Nathan Adler
Nathan Adler (1741-1800) was a German kabalist born in Frankfurt, December 16, 1741. As a precocious child he won the admiration of Chaim Joseph David Azulai (Chida), who, in 1752, came to Frankfurt to solicit contributions for the poor of Palestine. Adler attended the rabbinical school of Jacob Joshua, author of "Pene Yehoshua", who was at that time rabbi at Frankfurt, but his principal teacher was David Tevele Schiff, afterward chief rabbi of the United Kingdom. - Levi Yitzchak Schneerson
Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, (1878-1944), was a Chabad Hasidic rabbi in Yekatrinoslav, Ukraine. He was the father of the seventh and last Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Schneerson was born in 1878 in the town of Podrovnah (near Gomel) to his parents, Rabbi Baruch Schneur and Zelda Rachel Schneerson. His great-great grandfather was the third Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn of Lubavitch. - 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. - Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn
Yosef Yitzchok (Joseph Isaac) Schneersohn (1880 - 1950) was an Orthodox rabbi and the sixth Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad Lubavitch chasidic movement. He is also known as the "Frierdiker Rebbe" (Yiddish for "Previous Rebbe"), the "Rebbe RaYYaTz", or the "Rebbe Rayatz" (an acronym for Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak). After many years of fighting to keep Judaism alive from within the Soviet Union, … - Shlomo Eliyashiv
Rabbi Shlomo Eliyashiv (12 Tevet, 1841 - March 13 (27 Adar) 1925), also known as the "Leshem" or "Ba'al HaLeshem", was a famous kabbalist, who lived in Shavel, Lithuania. His father was Rabbi Chayim Chaikl Eliashiv. - Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla
Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla (1248-ca. 1305) ("the little") was a Spanish kabbalist, student of Abraham Abulafia. - Sholom Dovber Schneersohn
Sholom Dovber Schneersohn (1860-10-24 OS - 1920-03-21 NS) was an Orthodox rabbi and the fifth Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad Lubavitch chasidic movement. He is also known as "the Rebbe "nishmosei eiden" (whose soul is in Eden) and as "the Rebbe Rashab" (for Reb Sholom Ber). His teachings represent the emergence of an emphasis on outreach that later Rebbes would develop into a major theme. - Chaim Kanievsky
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky is a Haredi rabbi and posek ("decisor of Jewish law") living in Bnei Brak, Israel. He is the author of several works of Jewish law, such as "Derech Emunoh" ("The Path of Faith"), on agricultural laws and "Shoneh Halachos" (a systematic presentation of the popular work Mishnah Berurah). His Halakhic rulings regarding prayer are recorded in "Ishei Yisroel". He is the son of Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky ("the Steipler"), … - Yisrael Meir Kagan
Yisrael Meir (HaCohen) Kagan (Dzyatlava, February 6, 1838 - Radun, September 15, 1933) also known popularly as The Chofetz Chaim was an influential Eastern European rabbi, Halakhist, Kabbalist, and ethicist whose works continue to be widely influential in Jewish life. - 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. - 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. - 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. - Guy Oseary
Guy Oseary (born 1972 in Jerusalem, Israel) is an Israeli-American businessman. He is best known as the CEO of Maverick Records and as Madonna's co-manager as well as manager for American Idol runner-up, Katharine McPhee. Oseary attended Beverly Hills High School and started working with Madonna at age 17 to found Maverick Records. Oseary is the godfather of Madonna and Guy Ritchie's son Rocco. Oseary is best known as the CEO of Maverick Records. - Dovber Schneuri
Dovber Schneuri (1773-11-13 - 1827-11-16 OS) was an Orthodox rabbi and the second Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad Lubavitch chasidic movement. Rabbi Dovber was the first Chabad rebbe to live in the town of Lyubavichi (now in present-day Belarus), the town for which this Hasidic dynasty is named. He is also known as Der Mitteler Rebbe ("The Middle Rebbe" in Yiddish), being the second of the first three generations of Chabad leaders. - 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. - Jacob Philadelphia
Jacob Philadelphia is believed to have been born on August 14, 1735 and given the name Jacob Meyer. His date of death is believed to have been in 1795. He was a Jewish magician, physicist, mechanic, juggler, astrologer, alchemist, and Kabbalist. Dr. Christopher Witt, the associate of Johannes Kelpius, was chiefly responsible for his education. Meyer's patron in England was Prince Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, for whom he performed astrology, magic, … - Moses Hagiz
Moses Hagiz (Hebrew: משה חגיז) was a Talmudic scholar, rabbi, kabbalist, and author born in Jerusalem. According to Elisheva Carlebach, Moses Hagiz was one of the most prominent and influential Jewish leaders in 17th-century Amsterdam. During Hagiz's lifetime there was an overall decline in rabbinic authority which Carlebach argues was the result of migration and assimilation, and Hagiz devoted his career to restoring rabbinic authority. - Avraham Brandwein
Rav Avraham Brandwein, the current Admor of Stretten, is a great Israeli Kabbalah scholar and is direct descendant of the famous first Admor of Stretten. - Abraham Cohen de Herrera
Abraham Cohen de Herrera also known as Alonso Nunez de Herrera or Abaham Irira (ca. 1570-ca. 1635) was a religious philosopher and cabbalist. He is supposed by the historian H. Graetz to have been born in 1570. He is widely supposed to have been descended from a Marrano family: place of birth is unknown but may (according to Barbosa Machado the biographer) have been Lisbon, Portugal. Other sources link him to Italy, specifically Tuscany, … - Isaac Ben Samuel Of Acre
Isaac ben Samuel of Acre (Hebrew: יצחק בן שמואל דמן עכו, "Yitzhak ben Shmuel d'min Akko") was a kabbalist who lived in the Land of Israel. According to Azulai ("Shem ha-Gedolim") he was a pupil of Nahmanides. He was at Acre when that town was taken by Al-Malik al-Ashraf, and was thrown into prison with many of his coreligionists; but he escaped the massacre, and in 1305 went to Spain.
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