Johanan ben Aaron ben Nathanael Luria ( he, יוחנן בן אהרן בן נתנאל לוריא) was an Alsatian

Talmudist The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the center ...

. 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 A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish education, Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish p ...

'', he returned to

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

and settled in Strasburg, where he founded a ''

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; 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 st ...

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

ethical Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...

work entitled "''Hadrakah''" ( Cracow, c. 1579) and of "''Meshibat Nefesh''" ( Neubauer, "''Catalogue of the Hebrew MSS. in the Bodleian Library''" No. 257), an ''

aggadic Aggadah ( he, ''ʾAggāḏā'' or ''Haggāḏā''; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַגָּדְתָא ''ʾAggāḏəṯāʾ''; "tales, fairytale, lore") is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism ...

'' 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 in u ...

commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

on the

Pentateuch The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "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. In that sense, Torah means the ...

, founded on

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...

. 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 Zunz ( he, צוּנְץ, yi, צונץ) is a Yiddish surname: * (1874–1939), Belgian pharmacologist * Sir Gerhard Jack Zunz (1923–2018), British civil engineer * Leopold Zunz (Yom Tov Lipmann Tzuntz) (1794–1886), German Reform rabbi an ...

, ' pp. 106-130

*' xi. 546; * Moritz Steinschneider, Steinschneider, ' col. 1398. One of his descendants was

Elijah Loans Elijah ben Moses Ashkenazi Loans also known as Elijah Baal Shem of Worms, Germany, Worms (1555 – July 1636) was a German rabbi and Kabbalist. He was born in Frankfurt-am-Main. He belonged to the family of Rashi, on his mother's side was the g ...

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