Samuel ben Hayyim Vital (1598 – 1677) was a

Kabalist Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "receiver"). The defin ...

born in Damascus in the latter half of the sixteenth century. While still young he married a daughter of Isaiah Pinto, rabbi of Damascus. Poverty compelled him to emigrate to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

, where, through the influence of prominent men, he was placed in charge of the cabalistic society Tiḳḳune ha-Teshubah. After a brief residence there he went to

Safed Safed (known in Hebrew as Tzfat; Sephardic Hebrew & Modern Hebrew: צְפַת ''Tsfat'', Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Tzfas'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Ṣǝp̄aṯ''; ar, صفد, ''Ṣafad''), is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevat ...

, where he instructed the physician

Jacob Zemah Jacob ben Hayyim Zemah (17th century) was a Portuguese kabalist and physician. He received a medical training in his native country as a Marrano, but fled about 1619 to Safed and devoted himself to the Talmud and the casuists ("poseḳim") until ...

in Kabala. In the middle of the 17th century he returned to Egypt, where he died. Samuel Vital was the author of both cabalistic and

rabbinical Rabbinic Judaism ( he, יהדות רבנית, Yahadut Rabanit), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, or Judaism espoused by the Rabbanites, has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Babylonian ...

works. Among the former may be noted the ''Shemonah She'arim,'' an introduction to the Cabala, later embodied in the ''Eẓ Ḥayyim'' (Zolkiev, 1772; Korzec, 1785). Among his unpublished writings mention may be made of his ''Sefer Toẓe'ot Ḥayyim,'' a commentary on the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...

, and his ''Sefer Ta'alumot Ḥokmah,'' on the Cabala.

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

Moritz Steinschneider Moritz Steinschneider (30 March 1816, Prostějov, Moravia, Austrian Empire – 24 January 1907, Berlin) was a Moravian bibliographer and Orientalist. He received his early instruction in Hebrew from his father, Jacob Steinschneider ( 1782 ...

, Cat. Bodl. cols. 834–835, 2495; *

David Conforte David Conforte (c. 1618 – c. 1685) () was a Hebrew literary historian born in Salonica, author of the literary chronicle known by the title ''Ḳore ha-Dorot.'' Biography Conforte came of a family of scholars. His early instructors were rabbis ...

, Ḳore ha-Dorot, pp. 40b, 42a, 49b; * Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim; *

Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi (October 25, 1742 in Castelnuovo Nigra, Piedmont – March 23, 1831 in Parma) was an Italian Christian Hebraist. He studied in Ivrea and Turin. In October 1769, he was appointed professor of Oriental languages at the ...

, ''Dizionario'' *Kohn (Kahana), Eben Negef, Vienna, 1874; * Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael; *

Benjacob Isaac ben Jacob Benjacob (January 10, 1801, Ramygala – July 2, 1863, Vilnius) was a Lithuanian Jewish Maskil, best known as a bibliographer, author, and publisher. His 17-volume Hebrew Bible included Rashi, Mendelssohn, as well as his own '' ...

, Oẓar ha-Sefarim; *

Julius Fürst Julius Fürst (; 12 May 1805, Żerków, South Prussia – 9 February 1873, Leipzig), born Joseph Alsari, was a Jewish German orientalist and the son of noted maggid, teacher, and Hebrew grammarian Jacob Alsari. Fürst was a distinguished schol ...

, Bibl. Jud. iii. 479–482.

References

* Religious leaders from Damascus Kabbalists Egyptian Sephardi Jews Sephardi Jews from Ottoman Syria Bible commentators 17th-century rabbis from the Ottoman Empire 1598 births 1677 deaths Rabbis in Safed {{MEast-rabbi-stub