XVIth century CE

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

German lexicographer of the sixteenth century, student of Isaac of Ahrweiler, tutor in Wendersheim in 1555 then in Rüsselsheim and elsewhere in southern Germany, Juda ben Benjamin Deckingen, also…

Polish scholar of the middle of the sixteenth century, established early in Italy, where he studied Kabbalah and philosophy at the University of Bologna, Delacrut ben Salomon is the author of a…

Portuguese Marrano of the sixteenth century, son of Juan Pinto Delgado, born in Tavira where he served as secretary of an orphanage, Gonçalo Delgado composed a poem recounting the English incursion…

Marrano poet born in Tavira, Portugal, around 1530 and died in 1591, Juan Pinto Delgado studied humanities in Salamanca, where he befriended poet Luis de León, before, pursued by the Inquisition,…

Italian poet

Second Inquisitor General of Spain, Bishop of Salamanque then Archbishop of Seville, where he died in 1506, Diego de Deza, friend and protector of Christopher Columbus, succeeds Torquemada at the…

Moroccan rabbi of the sixteenth century, listed alongside Moche Anfaoui among the rabbis and notables of the mellah of Fès.

Rabbi and ecclesiastical censor

Talmudist, physician, author and expurgator of Hebrew books born in Safed, Palestine, around 1550 and died in Italy around 1620, Dominico Irosolimitano taught Talmudic law in Safed before being…

Portuguese businesswoman and philanthropist, one of the most influential women of the Renaissance. A Marrano who had returned to Judaism, she organized escape networks for the crypto-Jews, negotiated…

Portuguese Marrano, Duarte de Paz first served King Jean III (decorated with the order of Christ after losing an eye in the African war), then acted in Rome as the first procurator of Portuguese New…

German mathematician active in Frankfurt am Main in the first half of the sixteenth century, author of the « Sefer ha-Tsifar », a collection of mathematical problems with their solutions, completed…

Polish rabbi born in Poznań in 1555, died in Ostrog on November 30, 1631, son-in-law of Rabbi Moses Ashkenazi. He directed a yeshiva founded for him in 1585, became rabbi of Chelm in 1610, then rabbi…

Rabbi of Fez, 16th century. Mentioned in 5310 of the Hebrew era (1550). Son of Nehemia. Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 23-2.

Turkish Talmudist active in Constantinople in the 16th century, author of "Gal shel Egozim", a commentary on Genesis published in Belvédère, near Constantinople. He also edited the responsa of the…

Polish rabbi born in Posen around 1570 and died in Austerlitz, Moravia, in 1623, trained in the Talmud by his father, he studied at the yeshiva of Rabbi Liva in Prague then at that of Rabbi Mordechai…

Kabbalist of Safed, author of the Sefer Haredim and the celebrated liturgical poem Yedid Nefesh.

Son of Gershom Soncino and last printer of the family. He completed the « Miklol » (grammar of David Kimhi) and published grammatical works in Constantinople.

German scholar of the 16th century, known as « Eliezer the astronomer », author of « Ge Ḥizzayon », an astrological compilation drawing on Hebrew, Arabic and Latin sources and citing numerous…

Jew converted to Christianity, grandson of Elijah Levita, active in Italy in the 16th century, where he became a priest and canon. Versed in Hebrew literature, he was appointed censor of Hebrew…

Turkish rabbi active in Constantinople in the 16th century, who succeeded in 1526 his master Elie Mizrahi as rabbi of the city. He constituted the first collection of prayers for the Maḥzor Romania…

The Ranah, halakhic authority of Constantinople, author of the responsa Mayim Amukim.

Talmudist and Turkish commentator active in Salonique in the sixteenth century, author of « Ḳol Terua'h », homilies on the Pentateuch (Salonique, 1562), and of an unpublished commentary on Job, the…

Talmudist and Italian philosopher of the 16th century, long a teacher of the Talmud in Venice, who left in 1563 for Palestine but, having arrived in Famagusta, Cyprus, renounced pursuing his journey…

Kabbalist of Safed, student of Cordovéro, author of the pious work Reshit Chochmah.

Karaite scholar died around 1584. He wrote in 1579 in Constantinople the « Pe'er », a super-commentary on the first part of the biblical commentary « Ha-Mibḥar » by Aaron ben Joseph, which his…

rabbi

Italian physician and talmudic authority, born in Rome in the early sixteenth century, died probably in Siena on October 16, 1590. Brother-in-law of the physician and Talmudist David de Pomis, he is…

Talmudist and Chief Rabbi of Chełm, linked to the legend of the Golem.

One of the leading rabbis of Rome in the late sixteenth century, also renowned as a physician and philosopher. He taught Hebrew to Tommaso Aldobrandini, brother of Pope Clement VIII, and assisted the…

Rabbi and kabbalist of Worms, called Baal Shem of Worms, commentator on the Zohar.

Talmudist, led the yeshiva of Safed after Joseph Caro, author of homiletical commentaries.

Polish rabbi of the 16th century, author of the "Yesod Emounah" (Foundation of Faith), a treatise on the dogmas of Judaism, published in Cracow in 1582. He also wrote the "Yesod ha-Teshouvah," on…

Professor of theology and oriental languages born in Bremen in July 1591, died in Leiden on July 1, 1648, son of a refugee for religious persecution. Graduated in 1619, he became the same year…

Polish liturgist born in Chełm at the end of the sixteenth century, died in Wrzesnia around 1650. Son of the rabbi of Jambrower, trained by David ben Jacob of Szczebrzeszyn, he resided for a few…

Physician from a Sephardic medical dynasty of the Iberian Peninsula, established in Amsterdam. Studied in Bordeaux. Leading figure of the Portuguese community of Amsterdam: he financed the Hebrew…

Salomon ben Juda Ezobi was rabbi in Carpentras, Livorno, then Florence; born in Sofia, Bulgaria, in the sixteenth century, he died in Italy around 1650. Rabbi of Carpentras (1620-35), he taught…

Rabbi and kabbalist of Mantua, disciple of Menahem Azariah da Fano.

Paul Fagius, whose real name was Paul Büchlein, was a Christian Hebraist born in Rheinzabern, in the Palatinate, in 1504, and died in Cambridge, England, on November 13, 1549. Educated at the…

Emperor of Germany born on 9 July 1578, elected on 28 August 1619 and died on 15 February 1637. His reign, marked by the Thirty Years' War, is generally favorable to Jews: he authorizes in 1627 the…

Hebrew teacher born in Poland around 1555, died in Leiden, Holland, in 1598. After a turbulent career moving from Catholicism to Protestantism, he studied at Oxford and then Cambridge, where he…

Rabbi and Greek author active in the 16th century, from Seres in European Turkey, before becoming rabbi in Salonika and then exercising rabbinical supervision of all communities in the Morea, in…

Poet born in Évora, Portugal, on April 4, 1517, died in Ragusa, Sicily, in 1607, member of the Spanish family of Adumim, part of which settled in Italy under the name "De Rossi". His parents,…

Jew converted to Christianity, active in Rome in the sixteenth century, known for his slanderous accusations against his former coreligionists. With two other converts, he presented himself in 1553…

Talmudist and Turkish translator active in the middle of the sixteenth century, author of the translation into Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) of « Ḥovot ha-Levavot » by Baḥya, under the title « Obligacion de…

Jew converted to Christianity, active in the sixteenth century, born in Gorima and established in Prague under Maximilian II. He is the author of a Hebrew grammar, the "Diḳduḳ Leshon Ḳodesh" (Prague,…

Spanish scholar active in Ferrara, Italy, around the middle of the 16th century, author of a commentary on the "Beḥinat ha-'Olam" of Yedaya Bédersi and on the "Baḳḳashat ha-Memin", published with the…

German preacher and author who died in Frankfurt-am-Main in 1597, son-in-law of R. Siméon Guenzburg of Frankfurt, whose preacher he was within the congregation and whose name he bore. He is the…

Jew converted to Christianity, born in Rome, died in the same city around 1600. After his conversion, he entered the monastic order of Vallombreuse and devoted himself to spreading knowledge of…

victim of the Spanish Inquisition

Polish rabbi of the first half of the sixteenth century, first rabbi of Posen then of Brisk, or Brest-Litovsk. An order of King Sigismond I, dated September 4, 1531, enjoins the Jews of Brest-Litovsk…

Italian physician active in the 16th century, whose name suggests an origin in Vitry, in France, although Gross sees there rather « Vittoria », in Italy. He lived in Siena in 1530 then in Castro…

French physician and translator active in the second half of the sixteenth century. He translates in 1583, under the title "Mebo Arnabat", the dissertation of Arnauld de Villeneuve on the Hippocratic…

Italian scholar and Hebraist born in Mantua in 1600, died in that city in August 1638. Known chiefly as correspondent and friend of Johannes Buxtorf the Younger, he had taken refuge because of war in…

Palestinian Talmudist who died in Safed around 1583. Student of Joseph Caro, he succeeds him at the head of the yeshiva of Safed after his death and leaves responsa cited in the « Keneset ha-Gedolah…

David Gans ben Salomon ben Seligman is a German historian and astronomer born in Lippstadt, Westphalia, in 1541, and died in Prague on August 25, 1613. Trained in rabbinic literature in Bonn and…

Sixteenth-century scholar, he possessed the copy of the « Miklal Yofi » of Samuel de Sarsa, which he enriched with marginal notes and whose index he completed.

German mining expert born in Prague, mentioned in the English state archives of the reign of Elizabeth I, probably related to David Gans, established in Prague in 1564. Active in Keswick, Cumberland,…

Turkish rabbi active in Salonike in the sixteenth century, author of an index to the Jerusalem Talmud, "Masoret Talmud Yerushalmi" (Constantinople, 1573), a commentary on Midrash Rabbah published in…

Scholar born in Safed, son of Moshe Cordovero, transmitter of his father's legacy.

Rabbi and Italian chronicler, author of the chronicle Shalshelet ha-Qabbalah.

Portuguese printer born in Lisbon, where he was foreman in the workshop of Eliezer Toledano. Driven from Portugal at an advanced age, he settles in Salonika and establishes there around 1515 the…

Physician, theologian and Italian cabalist, active in the first half of the sixteenth century. He conducted a religious controversy with the friar Francisco da Acquapendente, attacking Christianity…

The most important printer of the Soncino family. He traveled, notably in France, to gather manuscripts to print and was said to be of great help to the exiles from Spain and Portugal. Forced to…

Jewish apostate born in Recklinghausen, Prussia, on 1 August 1569, drowned in Dröhelm on 25 September 1627. After teaching Hebrew and Talmud in various German cities, he was baptized in Halberstadt…

Polish diplomat

Manuel Gómez is a physician born around 1580 in Antwerp, of Portuguese parents. Trained in medicine in Évora, he established himself as a practitioner in Amsterdam and published De Pestilentiæ…

Ortuin de Graes, also called Ortuinus Gratius, is a German anti-Jewish writer of the sixteenth century born in Holtwick, in Westphalia, in 1491, and died in Cologne on 21 May 1542. Son of a priest…

Gregory XIII (Ugo Boncompagni) was pope from 1572 to 1585; born in Bologna on February 7, 1502, died in Rome on April 10, 1585. His policy toward Jews mixes a certain natural benevolence—he allows…

Hugo Grotius is a Dutch diplomat, theologian and scholar born in Delft on 10 April 1583 and died in Rostock on 28 August 1645. Imprisoned for life in 1619 for his adherence to Arminian theses, he…

Simon ben Eliezer Günzburg-Ulma is a German scholar and community notable born in Günzburg, Bavaria, in 1506, and died in Burgau on January 9, 1585, the first to have adopted and transmitted to his…

Kalman Haberkasten, called Kalonymus, was a Polish rabbi of the 16th century, first known rabbi of Ostrog, in Volhynia, after having presided over a yeshiva in Lemberg. His daughter Lipka married…

Rabbi of Meknès, active in the 4th century of the Hebrew era (1540–1639). Son of Haim, himself son of Daniel. Recorded in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 32-1.

Joseph ibn Ḥabib, also called Joseph Ḥabiba, is a Spanish Talmudist active in the 14th and 15th centuries, author of a commentary on the halakhot of Isaac Alfasi, the Nimmuḳe Yosef, published with…

Joseph Yuspa Nördlinger Hahn is a German rabbi born in Frankfurt am Main in the second half of the 16th century and died in that city on April 3, 1637, son of Rabbi Seligmann. Author of the Yosif…

Rabbi of Fès, sixteenth century. Mentioned in 5265 of the Hebrew era (1505). Son of Moshe. Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 33-4.

Rabbi of Fez, sixteenth century. Mentioned in 5286 of the Hebrew era (1526). Son of Shem Tov. Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 36-2.

Rabbi of Fès, active in the 4th century of the Hebrew era (1540–1639). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 38-4.

Rabbi and kabbalist of Cairo nicknamed Baʽal Nes; works Be'or HaChaim and Sifsei Chaim.

Rabbi, 16th century. Died in 5295 of the Hebrew era (1535). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 36-1.

Rabbi, 16th century. Mentioned in 5290 of the Hebrew era (1530). Son of Abraham. Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 38-2.

Rabbi of Meknes, active in the 4th century of the Hebrew era (1540–1639). Son of Abraham I. Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 39-2.

Rabbi of Tétouan, active in the fourth century of the Hebrew era (1540–1639). Son of Yosef the old. Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 38-3.

Samuel Ḥaḳan (Samuel ha-Levi ibn Ḥakim) is a 16th-century Egyptian rabbi, first in Cairo then in Jerusalem, a student of Élie Mizraḥi. He edits and has printed in Constantinople, in 1546, the…

Ḥakman ibn Ishmael is an Egyptian rabbi of the 16th century, author of novellae on the Talmud and on the Yad of Maimonides, some of which were taken up by R. Mas'ud Ḥaï ben Aaron Roḳeaḥ in his…

Elijah Menahem Ḥalfon is an Italian talmudist and physician, son of the astronomer Abba Mari and son-in-law of Kalonymus ben David, active in Venice in the mid-16th century. A recognized talmudic…

Eliezer Maẓliaḥ Ḥamul ben Abraham of Viterbo is a rabbi and Roman physician of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from a family of rabbis, physicians, and merchants. Representative of a Jewish…

Rabbi of Fès among the signatories of a Haskamah (rabbinical ordinance) of the Toshavim of Fès in 5286 (1526), relating to the prohibition of Nefiha. He thus counts among the decisors of the Fès…

Sixteenth-century rabbinic author, named Ḥanneles after the name of his mother, Hannah. He wrote Wayiggash Yehudah, a commentary on the Ṭur Oraḥ Ḥayyim of Jacob ben Asher, printed with the text of…

Salomon ben Aaron Ḥason is a Turkish rabbi of the sixteenth century, author of Bet Shelomoh, a collection of responsa completed with those of R. Daniel Estorza (Salonica, 1720), and of Mishpaṭim…

German rabbi (died 1588)

Kabbalist of Aleppo, disciple of Hayyim Vital in Damascus, author of « Mekor Hayyim » on the Shulchan Aruch.

Ḥayyim ben Bezalel is a German Talmudist died in Friedberg on the day of Shavuot 1588, eldest of the four sons of Bezalel ben Ḥayyim and originally from Poznań. Classmate of Moïse Isserlès under…

Rabbi who came from Fès to organize the community of Tétouan, founder of a rabbinical dynasty.

Ḥayyim ha-Cohen is a German rabbi born in Prague at the end of the sixteenth century and died in Posen around the middle of the seventeenth, son of Isaac ben Samson ha-Cohen and maternal grandson of…

Rabbi and talmudist of Salonika (Maharhash), great sage of Greek Jewry.

Portuguese scholar, father of Don Joseph Ḥayyoun, rabbi of Lisbon, active in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. He is the author of an ethical work entitled « Amarot Tehorot » (Constantinople,…

Abraham ben Juda Ḥazzan is a cantor active in Kremenets, Volhynia, in the 16th century. Recovered from a serious illness in 1595, he undertook an aggadic commentary on the Prophets and the…

Abraham ben Moïse Achkenazi Heilbronn (Heilprin) is Chief Rabbi of Lemberg, born in 1578 and died on January 2, 1649, whose father was related to R. Salomon Edels. He writes Birkat Abraham, a homily…

Joseph ben Elhanan Heilbronn is a German Hebraist active in Posen in the sixteenth century, not to be confused with a namesake who died in Padua in 1622. He publishes Em ha-Yeled, elementary Hebrew…

Yom-Ṭob Lipmann Heller, rabbi and liturgical poet, was born in Wallerstein, in Bavaria, in 1579, and died in Cracow in 1654 (the exact date of his death remains disputed by sources). Trained in…

Moïse Hénoc is a talmudist active in Jerusalem around 1570, author of the Mar'ah ha-Sorefet, a work of devotion translated into Judeo-German by Phinehas ben Juda Heilprin under the title Brandspiegel…

Ernst Friedrich Hess is a Christian convert and anti-Jewish German writer who lived in the sixteenth century. He is the author of the Neue Judengeissel, eine Polemische Schrift Gegen Juden und…

Rabbi and talmudist of Rome, appointed rabbi of the Roman congregation in 1620, a position he held until his death, according to the Jewish Encyclopedia.

Appointed rabbi of the congregation of Rome in 1620, he was one of the most eminent Italian Talmudists of his time. Fragments of his literary activity survive in the contemporary responsa literature.

Hezekiah Roman ben Isaac ibn Paqouda is a Turkish scholar who lived in Constantinople around 1600. He is the author of the Zikron ha-Sefarim, a catalogue of grammatical works composed from the time…

Italian Talmudist of the sixteenth century, dayyan of Venice from 1510 to 1520 under the rabbinate of Benedet ben Eliezer Acsildor. He participated in the dispute between Jacob Polak and Abraham…

Jewish martyr born in 1564 of New Christian parents in Coimbra, Portugal, burned alive in Lisbon on May 5, 1624. Destined for the Church like many secret Jews seeking to escape the Inquisition, he…

Sixteenth-century Talmudist, author of the "Kelale ha-Gemara", rules for the study of the Talmud published in the collection of Abraham ibn 'Aḳra, the "Sefer me-Harare Nemerim", in Venice in 1599.…

Spanish physician and rabbinic scholar established in Constantinople in the sixteenth century, court physician to Suleiman the Magnificent, whom he followed in his army to Syria; several years after…

Rabbi and Turkish historian active in Adrianople in the early sixteenth century, son of Salomon ibn Verga, author of « Shebeṭ Yehudah », who fled Spain for Turkey as a marrano. Student of Joseph…

Spanish historian and physician of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Sent by Spanish communities to collect ransom money for the prisoners of Malaga, he also lived as a marrano in Lisbon, where…

Grandson of one of the richest and most influential Jews of Valencia. In 1510, at an auto-da-fé held in that city, he was condemned for judaizing, and his houses, located in the old Juderia, were…

Sephardic scholar active in Venice, apologist for the Jewish oral tradition.

Grammarian and proofreader in Mantua, active in the second half of the sixteenth century, connected to the workshops of Meïr Sofer ben Ephraïm of Padua and Jacob ben Naphtali ha-Cohen of Gazzuolo. He…

Court physician to King Sigismund I of Poland, son of Abraham of Jerusalem, died in Kazimierz, suburb of Krakow, around 1510. Recommended in 1504 to King Alexander Jagiello by Archbishop Andreas of…

Son of exiles from Spain, collector and savior of manuscripts; he stayed in Cairo in the house of the Radbaz then in Constantinople where he edited important historical and polemical collections.…

Rabbi in Fès, owner of a synagogue bearing his name (desecrated/destroyed in 1646). He figures among the signatories of the Haskamot (communal ordinances) of Fès in 1584 and 1595, after the family's…

Greek Orthodox rabbi

According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica (entry « Arbib »), Isaac ben Arroyo, born in Salonique in the sixteenth century and nicknamed Arbib, is the author of collections of sermons: Tanhumot El (1573)…

Turkish rabbi, active in Constantinople in the first half of the sixteenth century. He is the author of « Me'ah She'arim », a double commentary, literal and Kabbalistic, on one hundred of the six…

Italian exegete, active successively in Bologna, Jesi, Recanati and Rome in the 15th and 16th centuries. He is the author of a commentary on the Song of Songs, the Lamentations and the Pirké Avot, as…

Physician and parnass of Prague, active in the 16th century. He is the author of the "'Olat Yiẓḥaḳ", a collection of ritual laws organized according to the "Arba' Ṭurim" of Jacob ben Asher, presented…

Polish rabbi born in Vladimir, in the government of Volhynie (Russia), around 1580, and died before 1646, elder brother and master of David ben Samuel ha-Lévi, author of the "Ṭure Zahav." Rabbi of…

Biblical commentator active in Constantinople in the mid-sixteenth century. He is the author of a commentary on Job, published with the text in Constantinople in 1545, as well as a commentary on…

Rabbi first in Egypt then in Jerusalem in the first half of the 16th century.

First known member of the Coriat lineage, dayan and kabbalist of Marrakech.

Sephardic Italian scholar, author of the « Orden de Oraciones » (Venice, before 1583), an edition of the prayer ritual of Spanish and Portuguese Jews; name also spelled Caballero.

Sixteenth-century Egyptian rabbi, originally from Venice. He had a halakhic controversy with Joseph Caro regarding the taqqanot of Rabbénou Guershom (the prohibition of bigamy), on which he was more…

Last nagid of Egypt (in Cairo), in office from 1502 until the Ottoman conquest of 1517 which ended the neguidat. Though of Spanish descent, his direct ancestors lived in Tlemcen (Algeria) from the…

Physician and rabbi of Salonika in the 16th century.

Rabbi in Ancona in the first half of the 16th century, from a Spanish family established in Italy after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. He is the author of the "Megillat Ester", a defense of…

The greatest kabbalist of Safed, founder of Lurianic Kabbalah. His concepts of Tzimtzum (divine contraction), Shevirat ha-Kelim (the breaking of the vessels), and Tiqqun (repair) revolutionized…

Spanish poet and rabbi

German professor of Hebrew, born in 1515 and died in Cologne in 1577. First rabbi in Wetzlar, he converted to Protestantism in 1546 before embracing Catholicism when he was called to Cologne as a…

Member of the troupe of the Jewish theater of Mantua, alongside the dramatist Leone de' Sommi and the composer Salomone Rossi. Choreographer for the court of the Gonzaga (dances of the Ingiusti…

Rabbi of Krakow, died on August 16, 1599, first head of the yeshiva of Szczebrzeszyn, in the government of Lublin, then rabbi of Vladimir, in Volhynia, where he was among those who signed a protest…

rabbi of Spanish origin

Polish Kabbalist, active in the late sixteenth century, known only by his single work, the "Tamim Yaḥdaw", which gathers all the verses from the Psalms and Proverbs cited in the Zohar with the…

Italian rabbi, active at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. Corrector of the edition of the Talmud published in Pesaro in 1511-13, he approved in 1518 in Rome the first edition of « Ha-Baḥur »…

Rabbi of Safed, ordained by Jacob Berab, sat on the beth din with Karo and Trani.

Liturgical poet and kabbalist, author of numerous piyyutim sung in the Mediterranean.

Polish scholar, active in the second half of the 16th century. He edited the anonymous philosophical work « She'elot 'Inyan ha-Neshamah », a dialogue between master and student on eighteen questions…

Jewish kabbalist, student of Isaac Luria (1590–1610)

Palestinian mathematician

16th-century Polish commentator on Midrash (and the Bible)

Rabbi of Fez, sixteenth century. Mentioned in 5290 of the Hebrew era (1530). Son of Mordekhay. Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 79-4.

Rabbi of the community of Spanish exiles in Fès in the 16th century, one of the signatories of the Takkanot (communal ordinances). He is believed to be the author of a collection of sermons.

Biblical exegete and Turkish preacher of the second half of the 16th century, descendant of Joseph Jabez. He is the author of the « Ḥasde Abot », commentary on the Pirké Avot (Constantinople, 1583),…

Spanish theologian of the fifteenth-sixteenth centuries, who lived for a time in Portugal with Joseph Ḥayyoun, from whom he received a taste for mysticism, before settling in Mantua after the…

One of the founders of the Portuguese community of Amsterdam (arrived in 1614). He wrote a poetic narrative of the Inquisition in one hundred octaves, entitled 'Job'.

noble tchèque

Scholar born in the German states, trained in Prague, he traveled through Germany and Italy by teaching before settling in Padua where he was appointed rabbi. Prolific author in Hebrew, Yiddish and…

Masorete and printer born around 1470 in Tunis, died before 1538, Jacob ben Ḥayyim ben Isaac ibn Adonijah left his native country during the persecutions of the early sixteenth century and settled in…

Italian printer born in Gazzuolo and active in the sixteenth century, Jacob ben Naphtali Ha-Cohen directed until 1556 the workshop of Tobiah Foa in Sabbioneta, which published Abravanel's « Merkevet…

Italian scholar active in Venice in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Jacob ben Obadia Sforno is the presumed author of the « Iggeret ha-Ṭe'amim », a treatise on Hebrew accents (Venice, 1600)…

Sephardic Talmudist of Safed, initiator of the attempt to reinstate semikha to prepare for the messianic coming. He was a dominant figure in the city.

Jewish Italian physician, member of the rabbinical court, he was the effective printer of the Hebrew press of Riva di Trento (1558-1562), under the privilege granted by Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo…

Born into a family of conversos in northern Portugal, he left the country in his thirties to live openly as a Jew, first in Salonika, then in the Holy Land, where he became one of the great…

Dutch colonial governor

Italian scholar active in the second half of the sixteenth century. At the request of Emmanuel de Fano, he translates in 1580 the « Moreh Nevoukhim » (Guide of the Perplexed) into Italian, under the…

Rabbi and masorete, author of Minhat Shai, critical commentary on the biblical text.

Polish rabbi

Jonathan Lévi Sion represented the Jewish community of Frankfurt am Main in its defense against the attacks of Johannes Pfefferkorn. When the latter obtained from Emperor Maximilian I an edict…

Rabbi

Joseph ben Isaac ha-Levi was a Lithuanian philosopher of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, versed in philosophical literature; it was in Prague that Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller asked him to explain…

Rabbi and Sephardic commentator connected to the scholarly world of Safed and Jerusalem.

Joseph ben Mardochée Gershon ha-Cohen, Polish talmudist, was born in Cracow in 1510 and died in 1591. Trained in Talmud from an early age, he became the head of a yeshiva founded for him by his…

Polish rabbi

Member of the great Corcos family, he lived in Palestine in the second half of the 16th century. He is the author of a commentary on Maimonides' Mishné Torah.

Joseph of Arles, French Talmudist and Kabbalist of the sixteenth century, is the author of a letter dated 1584 preserved among the halakhic decisions of Menahem Carmi. He is identified with the…

Chief rabbi of Smyrna, author of the Rosh Yosef, who excommunicated Shabbetaï Tsevi.

Sephardi rabbi

Sephardic diplomat of Portuguese Marrano origin, nephew of Doña Gracia Mendes, influential man at the Ottoman court under Suleiman the Magnificent and Selim II, who made him Duke of Naxos. He…

Moroccan Jewish merchant and diplomat

Rabbi born in Salonika, hakham of the Bet Yaakov congregation in Amsterdam.

Physician and scholar, engaged with Lurianic Kabbalah in his Maayan Ganim.

Talmudist and Kabbalist of Salonica, teacher of several great Sephardic rabbis including Joseph Caro. He was a central spiritual figure of the Ottoman Empire.

The Maharit, major Talmudist, chief rabbi of Constantinople, author of responsa.

German rabbi

Converted to Christianity and missionary to the Jews of Rome, died before 1597. He embraced Christianity in 1552, taking the name Andrea di Monti in honor of Pope Julius III; born in Fès, he is also…

Talmudist author of the annotations Ein Mishpat and Massoret ha-Shas of the printed Talmud.

Rabbi of Lemberg, author of the Sma and the commentaries Dricha and Pricha.

Eminent Talmudist at the head of the Cracow yeshiva, renowned for his halakhic acuity.

Rabbi of Damascus, author of the commentary Me'or Einayim on the Ein Yaakov.

Physician and rabbi of Constantinople, commentator on the Talmud of Jerusalem (Sdeh Yehoshua).

Physician, poet, and Neoplatonic philosopher, son of Isaac Abravanel, author of the Dialoghi d'amore. His work left its mark on European Renaissance thought.

Karaite scholar and liturgical poet, active in Belgrade in the first half of the sixteenth century, grandson of Abraham ben Judah whose exegetical work he copied and completed, the « Yesod Miḳra ».…

Italian physician established in Perugia in the middle of the 16th century, counted by David de Pomis among the most eminent Italian physicians. An assiduous student of Kabbalah and close to Emanuel…

Talmudist and Austrian mathematician, born in the second decade of the sixteenth century in Posen, where his family had settled coming from Worms, and died in Prague on August 22, 1609. Territorial…

Russian rabbi of the 16th century, he succeeded around 1570 to Naphtali Herz as rabbi of Brest-Litovsk. His signature appears, alongside those of Salomon of Lublin, Josué Falk and Samuel Edels, at…

Chief rabbi of Mantua, preacher and author of the commentary Qol Yehuda on the Kuzari.

Karaite scholar established in Constantinople, nephew of Élie Bashyazi, died before 1501. He traveled through Palestine, Egypt, Babylonia and Persia to learn about the Karaite writings found there,…

First rabbi of the Neveh Shalom synagogue in Amsterdam (1608).

Printer in Constantinople in the 16th century. With Juda Sason and Moshe ben Joseph Hamon, he published « Toledot Adam we-Ḥawwah » by Jerouham ben Meshoullam (Constantinople, 1516).

Italian Talmudist, active in Venice in the first half of the sixteenth century, student of David Cohen of Corfu and son-in-law of Benjamin ben Mattithiah, author of the « Binyamin Ze'eb ». He is the…

Juda Kalaz is a kabbalist and moralist established in Algeria, probably in Tlemcen, at the beginning of the 16th century, descendant of a Spanish family settled in Algeria after the expulsion from…

Polish rabbi, died in Lemberg on 28 April 1560, first known rabbi of that community and one of the very first chief rabbis of Poland. Probably from Worms, he directed the yeshiva of Lemberg for…