XVIth century CE

Rabbi born toward the end of the sixteenth century, died in Lemberg on 18 June 1643, where he presided over a rabbinical college. His decisions are preserved in the responsa of Abraham Rapoport, Joel…

person associated with Hebrew manuscripts

rabbi

Rabbi in Ragusa, born around 1580, educated in his native city and then in Venice before returning there to hold a chair; his maternal grandfather Solomon Oheb had likewise been rabbi there.…

Liturgical poet established in Safed from 1545, nicknamed Saggi Nehor. He composed a collection of poems and prayers printed in Mantua in 1561 under the title « Sefer ha-Miẓnefet », devoted mainly to…

Ottoman Talmudic author

Talmudist active in Turkey in the early 16th century, renowned among the Oriental talmudic scholars of his time. He counted among his students many important Eastern talmudists and left nothing…

religious writer

rabbi of Ragusa

Born in Fès, biblical and talmudic exegete, author of Korban Aharon (commentary on the Sifra).

Italian Talmudist

Talmudist of the 16th century established in Constantinople. He exchanged scholarly correspondence with Samuel di Medina, rabbi of Salonica, who called him « the greatest of our masters », and wrote…

Rabbi in Rome in 1543 and member of the administrative council of the community (manager of the ghetto) until 1564. In 1558, he stood as guarantor with other prominent Jews of Rome for the…

Italian rabbi of German origin, active in the sixteenth century and died on 13 November 1601. Disciple of Samuel Juda Katzenellenbogen, he became his assistant at the rabbinical college of Venice and…

Rabbi of Fès, 16th century. Died in 5317 of the Hebrew era (1557). Son of Shaul. Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 16-4.

Rabbi of Salé, active in the 4th century of the Hebrew era (1540–1639). Son of Moshe. Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 12-2.

Rabbi, sixteenth century. Mentioned in 5339 of the Hebrew era (1579). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 12-2.

Rabbi of Fez, sixteenth century. Died in 5305 of the Hebrew era (1545). Son of Shlomo. Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 12-2.

Rabbi of Fès, sixteenth century. Mentioned in 5305 of the Hebrew era (1545). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 7-2.

Rabbi of the Draa Valley, active in the 4th century of the Hebrew era (1540–1639). Registered in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 7–2.

Rabbi of Fès, 16th century. Died in 5325 of the Hebrew calendar (1565). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 10-2.

Kabbalist born in Fès, emigrated to Hebron, author of Hesed le-Abraham and a commentary on the Zohar.

Rabbi of Mogador (Essaouira), active in the fourth century of the Hebrew era (1540–1639). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 11-4.

Commentator born in Safed, originally from Syria, he exercised the rabbinical function in Aleppo in the second half of the sixteenth century. Disciple of Joseph Caro (1488-1575), with whom he later…

Italian rabbi and poet

Commentator probably contemporary with Elijah Mizrahi, active in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, probably in Constantinople, he drafted a supercommentary on the biblical commentary of Rashi,…

Born in Morocco, he immigrated to the Land of Israel before 1565. In Safed he joined the circle of Moïse Cordovero and became close to Elie de Vidas; Hayyim Vital reports teachings of the Ari that he…

Cabalist writer born before 1540, he lived long in Jerusalem and died at an advanced age in 1600. Disciple of Moses Cordovero and Isaac Louria (died in 1572), a man of great piety, he worked…

Appears in the list of rabbis of Cremona. No preserved work is attested by the consulted sources.

Hebrew scholar, one of the proofreaders of the first edition of the Zohar, published in Mantua in 1558-60, of whose publication he celebrated with verses printed in the preface. He has often been…

Printer and proofreader active in Prague around 1600. He translated the book of Ezekiel into Judeo-German verse and printed it in his own workshop in 1602, proving himself one of the finest…

Italian kabbalist linked to Safed, commentator on the Zohar and the Lamentations.

Rabbi of Fès, sixteenth century. Mentioned in 5305 of the Hebrew era (1545). Recorded in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 14-2.

Italian scholar and publisher of scientific works, active at the end of the sixteenth century. He edited the work « Meharere Nemerim » in Venice in 1599, a collection of methodological essays and…

Rabbi of Fès, sixteenth century. Mentioned in the year 5305 of the Hebrew era (1545). Recorded in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 7-2.

Rabbi of Fès, sixteenth century. Died in 5330 of the Hebrew era (1570). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 16-2.

Leader of the Spanish Jewish community of the kingdom of Marrakech, minister of the first Saadian sultan, whom he advised in 1549 to take Fez; he obtained numerous favors for his coreligionists. His…

Rabbi of Meknès, active in the 4th century of the Hebrew era (1540–1639). Son of Haim I. Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 17-2.

Rabbi of Meknès, active in the 4th century of the Hebrew era (1540–1639). Son of Haim II. Recorded in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 17-2.

Rabbi of Fès, sixteenth century. Mentioned in 5351 of the Hebrew era (1591). Son of Yitshak. Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 12-1.

Jewish philosopher (1570–1635)

Italian physician and translator of the early sixteenth century, born in Lecce, in the former Kingdom of Naples, and died in Venice in 1523, shortly after becoming ordinary physician to Cardinal…

Prefect of the Jews of Greater and Lesser Poland in the early sixteenth century. In 1512, King Sigismond I of Poland issued a decree appointing him to this position, notably charged with collecting…

Renowned Talmudist for his Lehem Mishneh, a commentary on Maimonides' code.

Master of the Mint of Cairo under Selim I, figure in the Purim of Cairo (1524).

Famous French philologist of the sixteenth century, who is said to have mastered twenty languages. Converted to Christianity, he became around 1537 professor of Hebrew in Avignon. As he aged,…

Scholar and physician of Algiers, author of the anthology Omer ha-Shikha (Livorno, 1748).

Exile from Spain established in Palestine, author and cabalist of the early sixteenth century, brother-in-law of Abraham Zacuto, author of the "Youḥassin". Expelled from Spain in 1492, he lived…

Hebrew poet and liturgist, rabbi in Arta in 1521. Although not a Karaite, he is credited with the authorship of the seven poems of four verses each preceding the different sections of the nineteenth…

Rabbi, 16th century. Died in 5323 of the Hebrew era (1563). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 10-4.

16th-century rabbi

Rabbi of Meknès, active in the 4th century of the Hebrew era (1540–1639). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 16-3.

Author of a work on the six hundred and thirteen biblical commandments, published as an appendix to the « first » Rabbinical Bible (Daniel Bomberg, Venice, 1517) under the title « Commandments and…

Rabbi of Tétouan, 16th century. Mentioned in 5329 of the Hebrew era (1569). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 14-3.

Rabbi of Fès, 16th century. Mentioned in 5313 of the Hebrew era (1553). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 14-3.

Renaissance rabbi, he studied in Venice (under Eliyahu Levita and physician Vittore Trincavella) then was proofreader for the Bragadin printing house before serving as rabbi in Cremona and Verona…

Italian encyclopedist (1542–1612)

Talmudist of Lemberg, president of the Council of Four Countries, author of Eitan ha-Ezrachi.

Talmudist, preacher and liturgical poet active around the middle of the sixteenth century, student of Abraham Motal, rabbi of Salonique, then teacher and preacher in Istib, in Rumelia. He died…

German rabbi

Portuguese Marrano nobleman born in Lisbon, initially consul and paymaster of Spain in Antwerp, he settled in Hamburg where he and his sons were circumcised (c. 1648), openly returning to Judaism.…

Rabbi of Fès, 16th century. Died in 5330 of the Hebrew era (1570). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 7-1.

Physician, philosopher and kabbalist, author of a Jewish catechism of the Renaissance.

Talmudist and dayan of Salonique, author of Ahot Ketannah.

Italian-Jewish polymath (1544–1599)

Rabbi of Aleppo around 1580, grandson of Jacob Berab, he was highly esteemed for his knowledge, prudence, acumen and piety by contemporary scholars such as Moïse Alshekh and Samuel Laniado, with whom…

Italian Hebraist scholar born in Modena in 1529 and died in Ferrara in 1611, issuing from a family originally from France settled in Italy during an expulsion of Jews and son of Mordecai, rabbi and…

Italian rabbi born in Consiglio around 1540 and died on October 26, 1616, he was the student of Samuel Juda Katzenellenbogen, rabbi of Padua, whose teaching he venerated so much that he had his…

Marrano of Vila Flor, in Portugal, born in 1587, he was sentenced to the galleys at the age of forty-five for having secretly followed the Law of Moses.

Casuist and preacher of the Chalom congregation of Salonique, active in the 16th century, he was the student of Joseph Taitasak and the fellow student of Samuel di Medina. He is the author of "Divré…

16th-century Hebraist, Jew of Spanish origin who emigrated early to Germany where he converted to Christianity, he was a physician by profession but distinguished himself especially as a professor of…

Bibliographer, editor and Hebrew scholar born in Rödlsee, Germany, probably in the first quarter of the 16th century, converted to Christianity in Rome, died in 1575, he copied Hebrew manuscripts in…

Physician, philosopher, and mathematician of Salonika who lived around 1540, he was the master of Daniel ben Peraḥya, whom he aided in translating from Spanish into Hebrew the Almanac of Abraham…

Rabbi, 16th century. Mentioned in 5360 of the Hebrew era (1600). Son of Abraham, himself son of Shmuel. Recorded in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 19-1.

Rabbi of Fès, sixteenth century. Mentioned in 5287 of the Hebrew era (1527). Son of Nehemia. Recorded in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 20-1.

Turkish vizier and viceroy of Egypt under Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566), he received this position in recognition of his bravery during the conquest of Rhodes in 1523. Disappointed at not…

First known Jewish woman to have written German poetry, probably born in Vienna in 1522 and died in Iglau, Moravia, in 1544. After careful education in Latin and Greek, she revealed early poetic…

16th-century Kabbalist established in Northwestern Africa, he is the author of the cabalistic work « Hekal ha-Ḳodesh » (The Holy Temple), begun in 1575 — a commentary on the prayer book drawn from…

Biblical commentator died in 1549, originally from the city of Albelda from which he takes his name. Established in Salonika, Turkey, at the beginning of the 16th century, he resides there until his…

Author and bishop of Forlì, of his Jewish name Elisha de Roma, active in Rome in the 16th century after his conversion and entry into the Dominicans, where he distinguishes himself as a preacher.…

Translator into Hebrew of the famous medieval novel "Amadis of Gaul". His translation appeared probably in Constantinople between 1534 and 1546; a copy of this work, now very rare, is kept in the…

Talmudic commentator and historian who died shortly before 1588, from a family of scholars of Candia (Crete) whom Joseph Salomon Delmedigo described as "Gaon". Of his works only a brief chronicle was…

Kabbalist and liturgical poet born in Safed, active in the first half of the 16th century, contemporary of Joseph Caro and master, as well as brother-in-law, of Moses Cordovero. Disciple of Joseph…

Editor in Constantinople in the first quarter of the 16th century. In 1516, with Juda Sasson and Joseph Hamon, he published the « Toledot Adam wa-Ḥawwah » of Jeroham ben Meshoullam.

Rabbi of Fes, active in the 4th century of the Hebrew era (1540–1639). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 102-2.

Jewish preacher from Salonika, active around the middle of the sixteenth century. Of his numerous homiletical and theological writings, only two have been published: « WayaḲhel Mosheh » (And Moses…

Rabbi of Safed, in Palestine, in the second half of the sixteenth century, son of Ḥayyim Alshech. Disciple of R. Joseph Caro, author of the « Shulḥan Arukh », he numbers among his own students the…

Italian rabbi of the 16th and 17th centuries, known as the author of a translation into Judeo-Spanish, in Latin characters, of the « Choulḥan Aroukh », entitled « Libro de Mantenimiento de la Alma »,…

Fernando Álvarez de Tolède, Duke of Alba, born in 1508, died in Thomar, Portugal, in 1582. Spanish general in the service of Charles V and later Philip II, he was sent in 1567 as governor to the…

One of the greatest physicians of the 16th century, from a Marrano family named Chabib (= « Habib », translated into Latin as Amatus, « beloved »). Trained in Salamanca, he practiced in Antwerp,…

Learned and influential rabbi, probably born in Tunis, who left for Italy after 1550, at the time when Moses Provençal is chief rabbi of Mantua. In the controversy over the legality of divorce…

Rabbi of Fès, active in the fourth century of the Hebrew era (1540–1639). Recorded in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 102-2.

Rabbi of Fès, active in the 4th century of the Hebrew era (1540–1639). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 102-2.

Baptized Jew, active in the mid-sixteenth century, head of a triumvirate of apostates who presented themselves in 1553 before Pope Julius III to denounce the Talmud as defamatory toward Jesus and…

From Xàtiva, converted to Christianity in the sixteenth century, whose Jewish name remains unknown. In his missionary zeal, he addresses in 1552, from Paris, a letter to the Jewish communities of…

Descended from a family of conversos of Portuguese origin persecuted by the Inquisition, secretly practicing Judaism. Author of some forty plays and numerous texts in verse and prose, including…

Physician established in Lisbon in the first half of the sixteenth century. In 1539, he succeeded Duarte de Paz as representative of Portuguese Marranos in Rome, charged with preventing, or failing…

Prior of Crato, claimant to the throne of Portugal, died in 1595, legitimized natural son of Dom Luís, brother of King Henry of Portugal, and of the converted Jewess Iolanthe, mistress of Henry. The…

Brother of Diogo Antonio, he represents him, around the middle of the sixteenth century, as delegate of the Portuguese Marranos in Rome, charged with settling his brother's finances and bringing to…

Apothecary and writer, active in Vladimir, Volhynia, in the second half of the 16th century. He is the author of the "Elixir of Life", a work in Hebrew and Judeo-German on the duties of Jews of both…

Italian apostate who renounced his religion in 1545 — eight years before the auto-da-fé of the Talmud in Rome, in 1553 — and who allegedly denounced Hebrew books, judging by a dedication of his…

Hebraist, born in Carpentras around 1578, died in Paris in 1650. Converted to Christianity in Aquino, where he exchanged his name Mordecai for that of Philip of Aquino, he settled in Paris in 1610…

Rabbinical author born in Turkey in 1525, active in Salonique. Barely twenty years old, he publishes the "Peirouch al Sefer Mishné Torah," a commentary on the "Yad ha-Ḥazaḳah" of Maimonides,…

Italian grammarian and poet of the 16th century, several of whose piyyoutim enter into Italian liturgy. An excellent talmudist, he reprinted from his youth the 'Aroukh of Nathan ben Jehiel under the…

Biblical commentator active in Safed and Salonika in the sixteenth century. He is the author of the « Imrot Éloah » (Words of God), homilies on the Pentateuch, of the « Wa'ad la-Ḥakhamim »,…

Spanish priest and orientalist, born in 1527 in Fregenal, in Extremadura, died in 1598 in Seville. Philip II entrusts him with the edition of the polyglot Bible printed in Antwerp (1568–1572).…

Active in Salonika toward the end of the sixteenth century. He writes the « Makhil Kohelet » (The Preacher Who Gathers) and the « Tanhumot El » (Consolations of God), philosophical expositions of…

Physician and translator, active in Cyprus and Damascus in the 15th and 16th centuries. He translated from Arabic into Italian the pseudepigraphic « Theology » attributed to Aristotle, at the request…

Rabbi and author of the 16th century, surnamed by Azoulaï "Angel and Saint", student of R. Joseph Sagis, colleague of Joseph Caro. Established in Safed, he founded the "Sukkah Shalom", a society of…

Talmudic scholar established in Frankfurt-on-Main and then in Jerusalem, where he dies around 1598. He is the author of a useful supercommentary on the Pentateuch commentary of Rachi, the Devek Tov…

Italian writer active toward the middle of the 16th century. He is the author of the « Apologia Hebræorum », published in Strasbourg in 1559, in which he protests against the decree of Pope Pius IV…

German religious poet, active at least until 1546. He wrote a seliḥa (penitential poem), not to be confused with a similar seliḥa by Kalonymus ben Juda; composed of fifteen stanzas of five verses, it…

Talmudist and rabbi, born in Germany around 1550, died in Frankfurt-on-the-Main in 1628. After completing his Talmudic training, he first practices in Bonn and then goes to Metz around 1595, where…

Polish Talmudist, born around 1590 in Frankfurt am Main, died around 1645 in Mogilev, on the Dnieper. Son of a dayan of Frankfurt who became rabbi in Danhausen, Bavaria, he went as a young man to…

Envoy of the Tatar khan in the 16th century, killed by pirates during a crossing from Gava to Dakhel, between the 15th and 25th of Tammuz (July) 1567. The testimony of Elijah ben Nehemia before the…

Preacher of Safed in the sixteenth century, died in Venice in 1602. He writes the "Imré Shéfer" (Fair Words), homiletic and exegetic dissertations on the Bible, whose edition published in Venice in…

Author of Talmudic novellae, active in Opatów, Poland, in the second half of the 16th century, student of Meïr ben Guedalia of Lublin. He writes the « Ḥidoushim », novellae on the Talmudic treatises…

Court physician to King Sigismond II Augustus of Poland (1548-72) and diplomat in Ottoman service, born probably around 1520, died in 1602. Descendant of a German family established in Udine, Italy,…

Talmudist and rabbi of several large communities, born in Posen around 1550, died on November 12, 1631 in Prague. His father was a rabbi, or at least a prominent Talmudic authority in Posen; his…

born 1595; died 1663

Italian rabbi

Scholar and physician, author of Me'or Enayim, pioneer of Jewish historical criticism.

Italian halakhist of the sixteenth century, disciple of Nathaniel Trabotto and respected by Meïr Katzenellenbogen of Padua. After teaching at Reggio then at Pavia (fifteen years), he was rabbi of…

Rabbi of Fes, active in the 4th century of the Hebrew era (1540–1639). Recorded in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 101-4.

Hebrew scholar and rabbinical erudite, born in Prague around 1580 and died in Sofia in 1651, daughter of Isaac ben Simson ha-Cohen and granddaughter, through her mother, of the famous rabbi of Prague…

Converted Jew, professor of Hebrew and librarian of the Vatican, born in Safed on October 28, 1588 and died on May 26, 1668, he bore the Jewish name Judah Jona ben Isaac; after having studied the…

Rabbi of the Ashkenazim in Constantinople or its environs, in the second half of the 16th century, he maintains a learned correspondence with Tam ben Yahya, who mentions him in his collection of…

Cabalist active in Naples in the first half of the 16th century, he teaches the Zohar and other kabbalistic texts to Cardinal Ægidius of Viterbo and Johann Albrecht Widmanstadt, giving his lessons in…

Italian rabbi ordained in Mantua in 1564, then head of a yeshiva in Ferrara. He took part in 1554 in the conference of Jewish communities of Italy in Ferrara. « Forti » is the Italian translation of…

Philosopher, talmudist and biblical exegete Italian of the late sixteenth century, descended from the ancient noble Spanish family of Baruch, called « Bet Ya'aqob ». He is a member of the rabbinate…

Renowned Talmudist, active in Sabionetta and then in Savigliano, where he died in 1557; descendant of an ancient Judeo-Spanish family, he probably settled in Italy after the expulsion of Jews from…

Karaite scholar who lived in Constantinople in the first half of the 16th century. He is the author of a commentary on the Karaite prayer book entitled « Tehillat Adonaï » (Praise of God), preserved…

Rabbi of Verona, Italy, active in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. He is the author of « Miktav le-Hizkiyahou », on divorce, and « Ma'amar Mordekhaï », on levirate, both published…

Prince of Transylvania from 1571, then King of Poland from 1575, in succession to Henri d'Anjou. He pursued a remarkably liberal policy toward the Jews: as early as 1575, he abolished restrictions on…

Christian Hebraist of Cambridge, professor of Hebrew in Paris around the middle of the sixteenth century. He is the author of the « Compendium Michlol », a Latin summary of the first part of Kimhi's…

A prominent Jew of the Principality of Orange, in Burgundy, in the early 16th century. When a decree by Philibert of Luxembourg, issued in Courthézon on 20 April 1505, forced the Jews to leave…

One of the leading Jews of Cranganore, sixteen miles north of Cochin, in southern India, in the mid-16th century. With Samuel Castiel, Éphraïm Salah and Joseph Lévi, he had a synagogue built in…

German Talmudist who died in Worms on February 26, 1587, after taking an active part in the affairs of the Jewish community of that city. A manuscript preserves a controversy in the form of questions…

Woman of great Talmudic learning, born in Lemberg around the middle of the 16th century, died at a very advanced age in Jerusalem. Daughter of the philanthropist and leader of the Lemberg community,…

One of the founders of the Judeo-Portuguese community of Amsterdam, alongside Jacob Tirado and Salomon Palache, born on the island of Madeira in 1570, died in Amsterdam on December 4, 1629. Arrived…

Isaac Bencemero, relative of Abraham Bencemero of Azamor, saved in 1511 Nuno Fernandes de Atayde, commander-in-chief of Saffee, then besieged by an army of more than one hundred thousand men. With a…

Abraham Bencemero, also called Ben Zamaira, was a Jewish mediator established in Azamor, on the western coast of Africa, in the service of the Portuguese. In 1526, he served as an intermediary…

Benjamin b. Mattithiah is a rabbi and merchant active in Turkey in the first half of the sixteenth century, member of the rabbinical college of Arta, known for the independence of his legal…

Benjamin b. Meïr ha-Lévi of Nuremberg is a rabbi of German origin, descendant of Jacob Molin, active in Salonique at the beginning of the sixteenth century, where he is highly esteemed by Sephardic…

Rabbi of Fes, sixteenth century. Mentioned in 5344 of the Hebrew era (1584). Recorded in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 24-1.

Cornelius Bonaventure Bertram is a Protestant minister and Hebraist born in Thouars, in France, in 1531, and died in Lausanne, in Switzerland, in 1594. After studies in Poitiers, Paris, Toulouse and…

Talmudist, author of the Shitah Mekubetzet, a vast collection of Talmudic commentaries.

David Blum is a German Talmudist of the mid-sixteenth century, rabbi of Sulzburg, near Freiburg-im-Breisgau, counted among the finest Talmudic authorities in Germany and an esteemed master of Joseph…

Daniel Bomberg is a Christian printer and publisher of Hebrew works, born in Antwerp and died in Venice in 1549. Trained in the art of printing by his father Cornelius, he publishes in Venice, from…

Isaac Borodavka (or Brodavka) is a Lithuanian farmer of taxes and distillery privileges active in the sixteenth century in Brest-Litovsk. First mentioned in a royal grant of January 1, 1560, he…

Ḥayyim Obadia ben Jacob Obadia di Bozzolo is a talmudist and kabbalist active in Salonike in the mid-sixteenth century, probably originating from Bozzolo, Italy. A prolific writer whose numerous…

Moses ben Mardochaeus Braunschweig is a Polish Talmudist active in the mid-sixteenth century in Kraków. He wrote a commentary on the well-known code of Jacob Weil concerning ritual slaughter and…

Juda Löw ben Moïse Naphtali Bresch (or Bres) is the translator of the Pentateuch into Judeo-German, active in Germany in the sixteenth century; he is known only through De Rossi, who attributes to…

Hugh Broughton is an English Christian theologian and rabbinic scholar born in 1549 in Oldbury, Shropshire, and died in Tottenham, near London, on 4 August 1612. Trained in Hebrew at Magdalene…

Simon Budny is a sixteenth-century Lithuanian Calvinist priest, founder of the Polish sect of the Budnites, nicknamed « half-Jews ». Trained at the Academy of Krakow, where he met disciples of Socin…

Edmund Bunney is an English preacher and Hebraist born at Vache, near Chalfont St Giles, in Buckinghamshire, in 1540, and died at Carwood, in Yorkshire, on 26 February 1618 or 1619. Appointed canon…

Johannes Buxtorf, principal founder of rabbinic studies among Christian scholars, was born on December 25, 1564, in Kamen, Westphalia, and died on September 13, 1629, in Basel. Trained at Marburg and…

Johannes Buxtorf II, son of the former, Christian Hebraicist, is born in Basel on August 13, 1599 and dies there on August 16, 1664. Enrolled at the University of Basel before age thirteen, he…

Christian professor of Hebrew at Louvain then at Cracow, where he was called by bishop-prince Peter Tomiki; died at Freiburg-im-Breisgau in 1538. He composed, based on the work of Elias Levita, a…

Italian rabbi, born in 1577 in Padua and died in that same city in 1653, where he was rabbi and preacher and directed the yeshiva Leḳaḥ Ṭob.

Italian physician, born in 1593 in Padua and died in that city in 1631, taken by the plague. He was renowned as a Talmudist and for his vast knowledge of profane sciences.

Official procurator of the Jewish community of Padua, born around 1561 and died in 1631, carried away by the plague that also took the lives of two of his sons and other family members. His sons were…

Opponent of the Talmud in Cremona in 1559, belonging, according to Steinschneider, to the Cantarini family. Following a dispute with Joseph Ottolenghi, he denounced the Talmud, with the convert…

Christian theologian and Hebraist, from an old French Huguenot family; born on October 15, 1585 near Sedan, as his parents fled following the Treaty of Nemours, and died on June 18, 1658. After…

Converted Jew who lived in Cologne from 1442 to 1515. Like many converts, he sought to demonstrate his zeal for his new religion by writing against his former coreligionists, notably publishing at…

Converted to Christianity, born in France under the name Todros Cohen and established in Florence in the mid-sixteenth century. Physician to a Spanish duke, he was with the imperial troops that…

Portuguese merchant, first naturalized English Jew, born around 1590, probably in Fundão, Portugal, and died in London in 1659. Having fled the persecutions of the Inquisition, he established himself…

One of the principal rabbis and Talmudists of late sixteenth-century and early seventeenth-century Poland, died in Posen around 1610. Although his name, probably a variant of the patronym Cases,…

Liturgical poet who lived in Avignon around 1540. He composed four elegies inserted in the manuscript Maḥzor of Avignon, the last of which bears his signature; he is most probably identical to Joshua…

Italian physician and philosopher who lived in Mantua in the sixteenth century. He is the author of a philosophical work on the articles of faith, Meor ha-Golah, preserved in manuscript, and is…

Secretary of the Jewish community of Rome, active in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. He edited and likely translated into Italian the piyyut of Juda ha-Lévi Mi kamoka and the…

Hetman of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, born around 1595 and died in Tchyhyryn in 1675. The spoliation of his estate of Soubotiv by the Polish bailiff Chaplinski fed his resentment toward Poles and Jews,…

Eldest son of Abraham Coen, he is appointed general receiver (« contador mayor ») of Count Maurice of Nassau, Stadtholder of the United Provinces from 1584 to 1625. While the Jews of Holland did not…

Italian engineer, born in Mantua around 1530. Highly sought after for his skill, he was in 1578 an engineer at the court of Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, who sent him to Prague in 1588, then to…

Talmudic scholar who lived in Safed in the 16th century, son of the famous kabbalist Moses Cordovero, nephew through his mother of the kabbalist Salomon Alqabets, and student of Salomon Sagis. He…

Spanish orientalist, born in Segovia, died on September 30, 1534. Baptized before the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, he was nevertheless trained in the rabbinate and became, because of his…

Christian scholar and Dutch Hebraist, born in Flushing in 1586 and died in Leiden in 1638, professor of law and politics at the University of Leiden from 1617. He holds a notable place in biblical…

Polish general born in 1599 and died in the village of Sokolovka, in Volhynia, on February 12, 1664, Stefan Czarniecki distinguished himself in the wars against Sweden and Russia (1656-61). Unlike…

Unitarian Polish priest born in Zbąszyń around 1530 and died in 1613, Martin Czechowic was first a Catholic priest in Kórnik until 1555, then joined the Bohemian Brethren in Vilna. In 1575, he…

Rabbi and Italian preacher born in 1527, active in various places in the territory of the house of Este and died after 1585, Mordecai ben Judah Dato is the pupil of Kabbalist Moses Cordovero and…

Italian scholar of Mantua, celebrated as one of the most eminent preachers of his century. With his brothers Moses and Juda, he was a leading member of the Mantuan community. First among Jews to…

Cabalistic author established in Salonika at the end of the 16th century, David ben Abraham Shemaria wrote the "Torat Emet", an abridgment of the Genesis section of the Zohar accompanied by…

Rabbi in Corfu and later in Patras, Greece, at the beginning of the 16th century, student of Juda Minz and contemporary of Élie Mizraḥi and Moshe Alashkar, with whom he maintained a sustained…

Rabbi, sixteenth century. Died in 5328 of the Hebrew era (1568). Recorded in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 26-3.

Turkish talmudist active in Salonika around 1550, David ben Jacob ha-Kohen drafted essays on the talmudic orders Mo'ed, Nashim, and Nezikin, the section devoted to Gittin, the « Migdal Dawid »,…

Polish rabbi

Rabbi of Fès, active in the 4th century of the Hebrew era (1540–1639). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 26-3.

Rabbi of Avignon in the sixteenth century, Maestro David d'Arles intervenes in a casuistic controversy that agitated the rabbis of Provence, Italy, and Palestine, after the brothers Isaac and Jacob…

Rabbi, active in the 4th century of the Hebrew era (1540–1639). Recorded in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 24-4.

Italian-Jewish physician (1525–1588)

Brothers refugees from Spain after 1492, passing through Naples before reaching Constantinople, where they established a Hebrew printing house. They printed the Arba'ah Tourim (Tour Orah Hayyim)—one…

Ashkenazi Jewish mathematician and astronomer

Rabbi, 16th century. Mentioned in 5356 of the Hebrew era (1596). Son of Aharon. Recorded in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 24-4.

Dutch rabbi