GALANTE

GALANTE , family of Spanish origin which produced a large number of scholars. An ancestor of the family was mordecai galante, who was among the Spanish exiles of 1492 and lived in Rome during the first half of the 16^th century, dying there after 1541. His original family name was Angello. Because of his handsome appearance and his dignified behavior he was nicknamed by the Roman nobility galant' uomo, from which was derived the surname Galante adopted by his descendants. Both of his sons, Moses *Galante and Abraham *Galante, migrated to Safed. The former had three sons: jonathan (d. 1678), who became a rabbi in Jerusalem, Jedidiah *Galante, the author of Ḥiddushei Galante (Willhermsdorf, 1716), and abraham, who served as dayyan in the bet din of Damascus. Moses *Galanteii, the son of Jonathan, succeeded his father in Jerusalem. Around the year 1700 a certain joseph galante functioned as rabbi in Tyre. During the latter half of the 18^th century another mordecai galante (d. 1781), who was a scion of the same family, was rabbi and head of a yeshivah in Damascus. He corresponded about matters of Jewish law with the foremost Sephardi rabbinical authorities of his time. A number of his halakhic dissertations are contained in the responsa Berekhot Mayim by Mordecai *Meyuḥas (Salonika, 1789), Solomon *Laniado (Constantinople, 1775) and Bigdei Yesha of Isaiah *Attia (1853). A collection of his sermons was published in Leghorn under the heading of Divrei Mordekhai. To these were appended responsa by him entitled Gedullat Mordekhai as well as homilies by his son Moses under the title of Kolo shel Moshe. Mordecai Galante of Damascus was succeeded by his son moses (d. 1806). The latter also wrote responsa, which were published in Leghorn in 1809 under the name of Berakh Moshe. Attached to the volume was an appendix entitled Zikkaron la-Rishonim. It included also glosses on Joseph Caro's Shulḥan Arukh Ḥoshen Mishpat by Moses b. Mordecai (I) Galante, as well as notes by Ḥayyim *Modai on Shulḥan Arukh Oraḥ Ḥayyim and Yoreh De'ah, and on *Hezekiah da Silva's Peri Hadash, and Hayyim *Benveniste's Keneset ha-Gedolah. Moses Galante died in Damascus. Abraham *Galanté, the historian, also belonged to this family.

bibliography:

Azulai, 1 (1852), 10 no. 36, 132 no. 111; Michael, Or, no. 176; S. Hazan, Ha-Ma'alot li-Shelomo (1894), 43a no. 20, 55b no. 1, 57a no. 14, 57b no. 15, 58b no. 23; Ghirondi-Neppi, 251 no. 41; Frumkin-Rivlin, 1 (1929), 56, 150; Rosanes, Togarmah, 3 (1938²), 281–2; Fuenn, Keneset, 16; Vogelstein-Rieger, 2 (1896), 35, 86; J. Rivlin, in: Reshumot, 4 (1926), 114; A. Elmaleh, in: Talpioth, 9 (1964), 364–86.

[Samuel Rosenblatt]