Gedaliah Ha-Levi

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GEDALIAH HA-LEVI

GEDALIAH HA-LEVI (d. after 1610), kabbalist and rabbi in Safed, Ereẓ Israel. Gedaliah, the brother-in-law of Ḥayyim *Vital, was one of the "initiates" of Isaac *Luria, i.e., one of his important and early disciples. His signature appears on the writ of association of Luria's disciples (1575). He edited and arranged according to Luria's instructions the Derushei ha-Melakhim she-Metu, which appeared in Kol ba-Ramah (Korets, 1785) and exists in several unsigned manuscripts. Solomon Shlomel Dresnitz, author of Shivḥei ha-Ari, heard tales about Luria directly from Gedaliah.

bibliography:

A.Z. Aescoly (ed.), Sefer ha-Ḥezyonot (1954), 56, 221; G. Scholem, Kitvei Yad be-Kabbalah (1930), 138; idem in: Zion, 5 (1940), 146–7, 149; D. Tamar, Meḥkarim be-Toledot ha-Yehudim be-Ereẓ Yisrael u-ve-Italyah (1970), 171.

[David Tamar]