ESPERANSSA, GABRIEL:

Rabbi at Safed contemporaneously with Jonathan Galante (middle of seventeenth century). It is supposed that he was received as an orphan into the house of a woman by the name of Esperanssa, who adopted and educated him, and whose name he assumed. Esperanssa was contentious and dogmatic; but was a thorough Talmudic scholar. He left several works, but only the collectanea to the Pentateuch have been published (Ḥayyim Abulafia, "'Eẓ Ḥayyim," p.137).

Bibliography:
  • Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, s.v.;
  • Conforte, Ḳore ha-Dorot, end.
K. L. Grü.
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