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Moshe Cordovero
Moses ben Jacob Cordovero ( ''Moshe Kordovero'' ‎; 1522–1570) was a central figure in the historical development of Kabbalah, leader of a mystical school in the Ottoman Empire in 16th-century Safed, located in the modern State of Israel. He is known by the acronym the Ramak (). After the medieval flourishing of Kabbalah, centered on the Zohar, attempts were made to give a complete intellectual system to its theology, such as by Meir ibn Gabbai. Influenced by the earlier success of Jewish philosophy in articulating a rational study of Jewish thought, Moshe Cordovero produced the first full integration of the previous differing schools in Kabbalistic interpretation. While he was a mystic inspired by the opaque imagery of the Zohar, ''Cordoverian Kabbalah'' utilised the conceptual framework of evolving cause and effect from the Infinite to the Finite in systemising Kabbalah, the method of philosophical style discourse he held most effective in describing a process that ref ...
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Safed
Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortified town in the Upper Galilee mentioned in the writings of the Roman Jewish historian Josephus. The Jerusalem Talmud mentions Safed as one of five elevated spots where fires were lit to announce the Rosh Chodesh, New Moon and festivals during the Second Temple period. Safed attained local prominence under the Crusaders, who built a large fortress there in 1168. It was conquered by Saladin 20 years later, and demolished by his grandnephew al-Mu'azzam Isa in 1219. After reverting to the Crusaders in a treaty in 1240, a larger fortress was erected, which was expanded and reinforced in 1268 by the Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo), Mamluk sultan Baybars, who developed Safed into a major town and the capital of a new province spanning the Galilee. After ...
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Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Europe and the fourth-most populous European Union member state. Spanning across the majority of the Iberian Peninsula, its territory also includes the Canary Islands, in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean, the Balearic Islands, in the Western Mediterranean Sea, and the Autonomous communities of Spain#Autonomous cities, autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, in mainland Africa. Peninsular Spain is bordered to the north by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; to the east and south by the Mediterranean Sea and Gibraltar; and to the west by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean. Spain's capital and List of largest cities in Spain, largest city is Madrid, and other major List of metropolitan areas in Spain, urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, ...
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Pardes Rimonim
Pardes Rimonim (meaning "Orchard of Pomegranates," with the word ''pardes'' having the double meaning of kabbalistic "exegesis") is a primary text of Kabbalah composed in 1548 by the Jewish mystic Moses ben Jacob Cordovero in Safed, Galilee. 16th-century Safed saw the theoretical systemisation of previous Kabbalistic theosophical views. ''Pardes Rimonim'' was the first comprehensive exposition of Medieval Kabbalah, though the subsequent 16th-century Safed mythological scheme of Isaac Luria superseded its rationally influenced scheme. Cordovero indicates in his introduction that the work is based upon notes he took during his study of the ''Zohar'', the foundational work of the Kabbalah. He notes that he composed the ''Pardes Rimonim'' "not to become lost and confused in its he Zohardepths." The work is an encyclopedic summary of the Kabbalah, including an effort to "elucidate all the tenets of the Cabala, such as the doctrines of the sefirot, emanation, the divine names, th ...
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Lecha Dodi
Lekha Dodi () is a Hebrew-language Jewish liturgical song recited Friday at dusk, usually at sundown, in synagogue to welcome the Sabbath prior to the evening services. It is part of Kabbalat Shabbat. The refrain of ''Lekha Dodi'' means "Let us go, my beloved, to greet the bride/the Sabbath presence, let us welcome" and is a request of Israel's "beloved" (God) to join together in welcoming a "bride" (the sabbath). The phrase "Let us go, my beloved" is taken from Song of Songs 7:12 (7:11 in English bibles), which Abba b. Joseph b. Ḥama interpreted as Israel talking to God. During the singing of the last verse, the entire congregation rises and turns to the west (traditional congregations face Jerusalem for the rest of services) or to the door; some have the custom to exit the sanctuary of the synagogue. The congregation bows at "Come, O bride!" and turns back toward the front of the synagogue; some bow only forwards and others to the sides and then forwards. It was composed ...
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Shlomo Alkabetz
Solomon ha-Levi Alkabetz (; – 1584) was a rabbi, kabbalist and poet. He is perhaps best known for his composition of the song '' Lekha Dodi''. Biography Solomon Alkabetz was likely born around 1505 into a Sephardic family in the Ottoman city of Salonica. the son of Moses Alkabetz. He studied Torah under Joseph Taitazak. In 1529, he married the daughter of Yitzhak Cohen, a wealthy householder living in his hometown. Alkabetz gave his father-in-law a copy of his newly completed work ''Manot ha-Levi''. He settled in Adrianúpolis, where he wrote ''Bet Hashem'', ''Avotot Ahava'', ''Ayelet Ahavim'' and ''Brit HaLevi''. He dedicated this latter work to his admirers in Adrianople. His students included Samuel ben Isaac de Uçeda, author of the ''Midrash Shmuel'' on the ''Pirkei Avot'', and Abraham ben Mordecai Galante, author of ''Yareach Yakar'' on the ''Zohar''. His circle included Moshe Alshich and Joseph Karo, as well as his famous brother-in-law Moses ben Jacob Cordovero ...
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Moshe Alshich
Moshe Alshich , also spelled Alshech, (1508–1593), known as the ''Alshich Hakadosh (the Holy)'', was a prominent rabbi, preacher, and biblical commentator in the latter part of the sixteenth century. Life The Alshich was born in 1508 in the Ottoman city of Adrianople, and was the son of Hayyim Alshich. studied in Saloniki under the exiled hakhamim Joseph Taitatzak and Joseph Karo, author of the "Shulchan Aruch". Following Karo to Safed, in modern-day Israel, where he taught notable students including Rabbi Hayim Vital and Rabbi Yom Tov Tzahalon. Although the Alshich belonged to the circle of the Kabbalists who lived at the city, his works rarely betray any traces of the Kabbalah. He is celebrated as a teacher, preacher, and casuist. Little is known of his life. In his works he avoids mention of himself, telling only of his course of study; thus in the preface to his commentary on the Pentateuch he says: Alshich travelled through Syria, Turkey, and Persia. Legend has i ...
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Yosef Sagis
Yosef (; also transliterated as Yossef, Josef, Yoseph Tiberian Hebrew and Aramaic ''Yôsēp̄'' and Yosseph, or Joseph, Arabic ''Yusof'') is a Hebrew male name derived from the Biblical character Joseph. The name can also consist of the Hebrew yadah meaning "praise", "fame" and the word asaf. It is the Hebrew equivalent of the Arabic name ''Yusuf'' and the source of the English name ''Joseph''. The name appears in the Book of Genesis. Joseph is Jacob's eleventh son and Rachel's first son, and known in the Jewish Bible as Yossef ben-Yaakov. In Christian culture, the name has the additional significance of being the name of Saint Joseph, described in the canonical gospels as the husband of Mary, mother of Jesus, and Jesus' legal father. Given name * Yosef ben Matityahu (Flavius Josephus), Jewish general and historian * Yossi Avni-Levy (1962–), Israeli writer and diplomat * Yossef Bodansky, Israeli-American political scientist * (Yosef) Joseph Caro (1488–1575), Spanish-Ottoman T ...
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Moses Ben Joseph Di Trani
Moses ben Joseph di Trani () the Elder, known by his acronym Mabit (Salonica, Rumelia Eyalet in Ottoman Greece 1500 – Jerusalem, Ottoman Empire 1580) was a 16th-century rabbi in Safed. His father had fled to Salonica from Apulia three years prior to his birth. While still a boy Moses was sent to Adrianople to pursue the study of the Talmud under the supervision of his uncle Aaron. At the age of sixteen he went to Safed and completed his studies under Jacob Berab. In 1525 he was appointed rabbi of Safed; he held this office for some fifty-five years, when he eventually moved to Jerusalem. According to a 16th-century Jewish traveler who visited Safed in 1567, Rabbi Moses di Trani was still living in Safed: Works Moses di Trani was the author of: * ''Bet Elohim'' (Venice, 1576), a moral and philosophical work on prayer, atonement, and the fundamental principles of faith * ''Kiryat Sefer'' (Venice, 1551), a commentary on the Bible, the ''Talmud'', and difficult passages in th ...
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Halakha
''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments (''Mitzvah, mitzvot''), subsequent Talmudic and Mitzvah#Rabbinic mitzvot, rabbinic laws, and the customs and traditions which were compiled in the many books such as the ''Shulchan Aruch'' or ''Mishneh Torah''. ''Halakha'' is often translated as "Jewish law", although a more literal translation might be "the way to behave" or "the way of walking". The word is derived from the Semitic root, root, which means "to behave" (also "to go" or "to walk"). ''Halakha'' not only guides religious practices and beliefs; it also guides numerous aspects of day-to-day life. Historically, widespread observance of the laws of the Torah is first in evidence beginning in the second century BCE, and some say that the first evide ...
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Joseph Karo
Joseph ben Ephraim Karo, also spelled Yosef Caro, or Qaro (; 1488 – March 24, 1575, 13 Nisan 5335 A.M.), was a prominent Sephardic Jewish rabbi renowned as the author of the last great codification of Jewish law, the ''Beit Yosef'', and its popular analogue, the ''Shulhan Arukh''. Karo is regarded as the preeminent halakhic authority of his time, and is often referred to by the honorific titles HaMechaber () and Maran ().Joseph ben Ephraim Karo
'' Britannica.com''


Biography

Joseph Karo was born in Toledo, Spain, in 1488. In 1492, aged four, he was
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Jacob Berab
Jacob Berab (), also spelled Berav or Bei-Rav, known as Mahari Beirav (1474 – April 3, 1546), was an influential rabbi and talmudist best known for his attempt to reintroduce classical semikhah (ordination). Biography Berab was born at Maqueda near Toledo, Castilian Spain in 1474. He later became a pupil of Isaac Aboab. After the expulsion of Jews from Spain, he fled to Fez in Wattasid-ruled Morocco. The Fez Jewish community, consisting of 5000 families, chose him for their rabbi, though he was but a youth of eighteen. From there he went to Tlemçen, then the chief town of the Barbary states. There, the Jewish community consisting of 5000 families, chose him for their rabbi, though he was but a youth of eighteen. Evidence of the great respect there paid him is afforded by the following lines of Abraham Gavison quoted by Isaiah Berlin's ''Omer ha-Shikḥah'': "Say not that the lamp of the Law no longer in Israel burneth! Jacob Berab hath come back—once more among us ...
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Semicha
''Semikhah'' () is the traditional term for rabbiinic ordination in Judaism. The original ''semikhah'' was the formal "transmission of authority" from Moses through the generations. This form of ''semikhah'' ceased between 360 and 425 CE. Since then, ''semikhah'' has continued in a less formal way; throughout Jewish history, there have been several attempts to reestablish the classical ''semikhah''. The title of "rabbi" has "proliferated greatly over the last century". Nowadays, ''semikhah'' is also granted for a comparatively limited form of ordination, bestowing the authority to apply ''Halakha'' in specific Jewish settings rather than across the Jewish people writ large. In non- Orthodox Jewish religious movements, rabbinical education often emphasizes the modern roles of rabbis, such as preaching, teaching, counseling, and pastoral work. In recent times, relatedly, some institutions grant ordination for the role of ''hazzan'' (cantor), extending the "investiture" grante ...
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