Ezra ben Isaac Fano was

Rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

and cabalist who lived in the 16th and 17th centuries. Fano was a pupil of the cabalist Israel Saruḳ, and among his own pupils were

Menahem Azariah da Fano Menahem Azariah da Fano (also called Immanuel da Fano, and Rema MiPano () (1548 – 1620) was an Italian rabbi, Talmudist, and Kabbalist. Life He was a disciple of Rabbi Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, to whose widow he offered 1,000 sequins for ...

, Jacob the Levite, and Issachar Baer Eulenburg. On 14 July 1591, Fano received the title of "Chief Rabbi Laureate of Mantua." He was the possessor of valuable manuscripts, some of which he edited and annotated. He published, under the title of ''Sefer Mishpeṭe Shebu'ot'' (Venice, 1602), a collection of small treatises by

Hai Gaon Hai ben Sherira (), better known as Hai Gaon (), was a medieval Jewish theologian, rabbi and scholar who served as Gaon of the Talmudic academy of Pumbedita during the early 11th century. He was born in 939 and died on March 28, 1038. He receiv ...

. In conjunction with

Meïr of Padua Meir ben Isaac Katzenellenbogen (c. 1482 – 12 January 1565) (also, Meir of Padua, or Maharam Padua, ) was a German rabbi born in Katzenelnbogen. Biography Meïr ben Isaac, who was often called after his native town, was the founder of the Katze ...

, he edited a manuscript of the ''

Midrash Tanḥuma Midrash Tanhuma (), also known as Yelammedenu, is the name given to a homiletic midrash on the entire Torah, and it is known in several different versions or collections. Tanhuma bar Abba is not the author of the text but instead is a figure to wh ...

,'' adding a preface, an index, and three tables of practical decisions (Mantua, 1563). His decisions were published in Moses Porto's ''Palge Mayim'' (p. 28b) and in the collection entitled ''Mashbit Milḥamot'' (p. 32b). MS. No. 130 in the ''Codices Hebraic. Biblioth. I. B. de Rossi'' (Parma, 1803) contains a collection of letters written to Fano by Mordecai Dato and Joseph Ḥazaḳ (Cod. 130), and Joseph Gikatilla's ''Sefer ha-Oraḥ,'' with a description by Fano (Cod. 1228). Fano also wrote notes to many cabalistic works.

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

* Zunz, in Kerem Ḥemed, vii.122; * Graziadio Nepi- Mordecai Ghirondi, ''Toledot Gedole Yisrael'', p. 282, 289; * Marco Mortara, ''Indice'', p. 21.

References

* 16th-century births 17th-century deaths 17th-century Italian rabbis Rabbis from Mantua Kabbalists 16th-century Italian rabbis {{Kabbalah-stub