Johanan ben Aaron ben Nathanael Luria () was an Alsatian Talmudist. He lived successively at Niedernheim and Strasburg at the end of the fifteenth century and in the beginning of the sixteenth. After having studied for many years in German '' yeshivot'', he returned to

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

and settled in Strasburg, where he founded a ''

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

'' by permission of the government. Luria was the author of an

ethical Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied e ...

work entitled "''Hadrakah''" (

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, ) and of "''Meshibat Nefesh''" ( Neubauer, "''Catalogue of the Hebrew MSS. in the Bodleian Library''" No. 257), an ''

aggadic Aggadah (, or ; ; 'tales', 'legend', 'lore') is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly the Talmud and Midrash. In general, Aggadah is a compendium of rabbinic texts that incorporat ...

'' and

mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight ...

commentary on the

Pentateuch The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () o ...

, founded on

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...

. To this commentary was appended a dissertation in which Luria refuted the arguments advanced by Christians against Judaism.
Jewish Encyclopedia Bibliography: * Carmoly, ''Itinéraires de la Terre Sainte''
p. 345
* Zunz, ' pp. 106–130

* ' xi. 546; * Moritz Steinschneider, Steinschneider, ' col. 1398. His father Aaron ben Nathanael Luria is often cited as the first Luria and the progenitor of this family. One of his descendants was Elijah Loans. Johanan had two brothers, Yechiel Yehuda and Judah "the physician". Yechiel Yehuda had four children, including Dreizel Miriam Zeisel Luria ( Rema's grandmother) and Julia-Malka Luria ( Meir Katzenellenbogen's mother).

Ancestry

References

15th-century German rabbis 16th-century German rabbis Alsatian Jews Bible commentators Kabbalists Clergy from Strasbourg Place of birth unknown Place of death unknown Rosh yeshivas Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Talmudists {{france-rabbi-stub