Sages of Tzfat

The flowering of Kabbalah and halacha in Tzfat: the Arizal, Rabbi Yosef Karo, the Ramak, Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz and their circle.

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Rabbi Avraham Galante

Rabbi Avraham ben Mordechai Galante was a Kabbalist of Tzfat’s golden age and a disciple of the Ramak. A man

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Rabbi Avraham HaLevi Berukhim

Rabbi Avraham HaLevi Berukhim was a Kabbalist of Tzfat’s golden age, a disciple of the Ramak and of the Arizal.

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Rabbi Chaim Vital – disciple of the Arizal

Rabbi Chaim Vital was the foremost disciple of the Arizal. Almost everything we know of Lurianic Kabbalah comes to us

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Rabbi Elazar Azikri – the Baal Charedim

Rabbi Elazar ben Moshe Azikri, known after his famous book as the Baal Charedim, was a Kabbalist, poet and teacher

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Rabbi Elisha Gallico

Rabbi Elisha ben Gavriel Gallico was one of the leading Torah scholars of Tzfat in the 16th century. Born in

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Rabbi Eliyahu de Vidas – author of Reshit Chochmah

Rabbi Eliyahu de Vidas was one of the most important disciples of the Ramak in Tzfat. His book Reshit Chochmah

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Rabbi Moshe ben Makhir

Rabbi Moshe ben Makhir was a Tzfat sage of the 16th century who headed the yeshiva at Ein Zeitun, the

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Rabbi Moshe Galante

Rabbi Moshe ben Mordechai Galante, known as “the Elder” to distinguish him from later rabbis of the same name, was

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Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz – author of Lecha Dodi

Rabbi Shlomo HaLevi Alkabetz was a Kabbalist, poet and biblical commentator, and one of the founders of the mystical community

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Rabbi Shmuel de Uceda

Rabbi Shmuel ben Yitzchak de Uceda was a rabbi, preacher and Kabbalist of Tzfat in the second half of the

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Rabbi Yaakov Beirav – Mahari Beirav

Rabbi Yaakov Beirav (Mahari Beirav) was the leading rabbi of Tzfat in the generation before its golden age, and the

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Rabbi Yosef Karo – the Beit Yosef

Rabbi Yosef Karo, honoured as Maran (“our master”) and HaMechaber (“the author”), wrote the Shulchan Aruch, the code of Jewish

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Rabbi Yosef Saragossi

Rabbi Yosef Saragossi, known in Tzfat as Rabbi Yosi Saragossi, was one of the first Spanish exiles to settle in

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The Alshich HaKadosh – Rabbi Moshe Alshich

Rabbi Moshe Alshich, revered as the Alshich HaKadosh (“the holy Alshich”), was the great preacher of Tzfat’s golden age. His

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The Arizal – Rabbi Yitzchak Luria

Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, known as the Arizal or Ha’Ari HaKadosh (“the holy Lion”), is the most influential Kabbalist of modern

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The Mabit – Rabbi Moshe di Trani

Rabbi Moshe ben Yosef di Trani, known as the Mabit, served as a rabbi of Tzfat for about fifty-five years

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The Radbaz – Rabbi David ibn Zimra

Rabbi David ben Shlomo ibn Abi Zimra, known as the Radbaz, was one of the greatest halachic authorities of his

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The Ramak – Rabbi Moshe Cordovero

Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, known by his acronym the Ramak, was the great systematiser of Kabbalah and the leading mystic of

Sages of the Mishnah and Talmud resting in Meron, Amuka, Tzfat and across the Galilee.

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Choni HaMe’agel

Choni HaMe’agel, “Choni the Circle-Drawer,” lived in the 1st century BCE, in the time of the Second Temple. He was

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Hillel the Elder

Hillel the Elder (Hillel HaZaken) was one of the most important sages in Jewish history. Born in Babylonia, he came

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Nachum Ish Gamzu

Nachum Ish Gamzu was a Tanna of the 1st century CE. The Talmud (Taanit 21a) explains his name: whatever happened

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Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai

Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai was the youngest student of Hillel and the leader who carried the Jewish people through the

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Rabbi Akiva

Rabbi Akiva ben Yosef is one of the towering figures of Jewish history. According to the Talmud, he was an

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Rabbi Chiya

Rabbi Chiya, also called Rabbi Chiya the Great (Rabbi Chiya Rabbah), was born in Babylonia and came to the Land

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Rabbi Elazar ben Shimon

Rabbi Elazar ben Shimon was a Tanna of the 2nd century CE and the son of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

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Rabbi Meir Baal HaNes

Rabbi Meir was one of the greatest sages of the Mishnah and a leading student of Rabbi Akiva. The Talmud

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Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair

Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair was a Tanna of the 2nd century CE, renowned for his extraordinary piety. The Talmud calls

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Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai – the Rashbi

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, known by his initials as the Rashbi, was one of the greatest sages of the Mishnah,

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Rabbi Tarfon

Rabbi Tarfon was a Tanna of the generation after the destruction of the Second Temple. A Kohen, he served in

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Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai

Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai, quoted in the Mishnah simply as “Rabbi Yehuda,” is the sage cited more often than any

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Rabbi Yochanan HaSandlar

Rabbi Yochanan HaSandlar, “the shoemaker,” was a Tanna of the 2nd century CE and a student of Rabbi Akiva. He

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Rabbi Yossi HaGlili

Rabbi Yossi HaGlili, “Rabbi Yossi the Galilean,” was a Tanna of the generation of Yavneh, in the early 2nd century

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Rachel, wife of Rabbi Akiva

Rachel, daughter of the wealthy Kalba Savua of Jerusalem, is one of the great women of the Talmud. She saw

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Shammai

Shammai was one of the leading sages of the late Second Temple period, serving as Av Beit Din, the deputy

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Shemaya and Avtalion

Shemaya and Avtalion were the fourth of the “pairs” (zugot) who led the Jewish people and passed on the Oral

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Yonatan ben Uziel

Yonatan ben Uziel was the greatest of the eighty students of Hillel the Elder. The Talmud (Sukkah 28a) says that

Prophets and figures of the Bible whose traditional resting places are in and around Tzfat.

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Be’eri, father of Hoshea

Be’eri is named in the first verse of the Book of Hoshea as the father of the prophet Hoshea.According to

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Benayahu ben Yehoyada

Benayahu son of Yehoyada was one of King David’s mightiest warriors and later the commander of King Solomon’s army. The

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Chana and her seven sons

Chana and her seven sons are among the most famous martyrs in Jewish history. Their story is told in the

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Chavakuk the Prophet

Chavakuk (Habakkuk) was one of the Twelve Prophets, living in the Kingdom of Judah around the time of the Babylonian

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Hoshea the Prophet

Hoshea son of Be’eri was a prophet in the northern Kingdom of Israel in the 8th century BCE, in the

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Shem and Ever

Shem, son of Noah, and his great-grandson Ever (Eber), from whom the name “Ivri” (Hebrew) is traditionally derived, are remembered

Medieval sages connected to Tzfat and the Galilee.

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Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Paquda

Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Paquda was a judge (dayan) and thinker in 11th-century Spain, probably in Saragossa. He is the author

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Rabbi Yitzchak Abuhav

Rabbi Yitzchak Abuhav (Aboab) is the name of the Spanish sage after whom the Abuhav Synagogue, one of the best-known

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The Rambam – Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon

Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, known as the Rambam or Maimonides, is one of the greatest Torah scholars and philosophers in

Rabbis and Kabbalists who kept Tzfat’s tradition alive after its golden age.

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Rabbi Chaim Abulafia

Rabbi Chaim Abulafia was a leading Sephardic rabbi and Kabbalist of the 17th and 18th centuries, best remembered for re-founding

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The Ramchal – Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, known as the Ramchal, was an Italian rabbi, Kabbalist, poet and ethicist, and one of the

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The Shelah HaKadosh – Rabbi Yeshaya Horowitz

Rabbi Yeshaya HaLevi Horowitz is known by the initials of his great work Shnei Luchot HaBrit as the Shelah HaKadosh,

The Chassidic aliyah of 1777 and the students of the Vilna Gaon who rebuilt Jewish Tzfat.

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Miriam, daughter of Rebbe Nachman

Miriam was the third daughter of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. She married Pinchas, son of Rabbi Aryeh Leib of Volochisk,

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Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk

Rabbi Avraham HaKohen of Kalisk was a disciple of the Maggid of Mezritch and one of the leaders of the

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Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk

Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk was one of the leading disciples of the Maggid of Mezritch and the leader of

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Rabbi Shimon of Kremenchuk

Rabbi Shimon of Kremenchuk was a Chassidic tzaddik who came from Ukraine to the Land of Israel and settled in

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Rabbi Yisrael of Shklov

Rabbi Yisrael of Shklov was a leading disciple of the Vilna Gaon and the leader of the Perushim, the Gaon’s

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Reb Leibel Baal HaYissurim

Rabbi Leib, known as Baal HaYissurim (“the master of suffering”), was an outstanding Torah scholar and a leading disciple of

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The Bat Ayin – Rabbi Avraham Dov of Avritch

Rabbi Avraham Dov Ber of Avritch (Ovruch), known by the name of his book Bat Ayin, was a Chassidic master

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The Be’er Mayim Chaim – Rabbi Chaim of Czernowitz

Rabbi Chaim ben Shlomo Tyrer, known as Rabbi Chaim of Czernowitz and by the name of his book Be’er Mayim

Rabbis and tzaddikim of Tzfat in recent generations.

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Rabbi Shmuel Heller

Rabbi Shmuel Heller was the head of the rabbinical court of Tzfat and one of the leading figures of the