Galante, Abraham ben Mordecai
GALANTE, ABRAHAM BEN MORDECAI
GALANTE, ABRAHAM BEN MORDECAI (second half 16th century), kabbalist in Safed. He was the brother and a pupil of Moses b. Mordecai *Galante and a disciple of Moses *Cordovero. Galante, who was known as a distinguished and modest Ḥasid, received the title, "Ha-Kadosh" ("the saint"). He was the first to cite Joseph Caro's Maggid Meisharim. His works include (1) Yare'aḥ Yakar, a commentary on the *Zohar (extant in manuscripts, to Exodus-Terumah 140:2). The work was abridged by Abraham Azulai, entitled Zohorei Ḥammah, and published in Venice (1655, and later in Piotrkow, 1881); (2) Kinat Setarim, a kabbalistic commentary on Lamentations (publ. by R.I. Gershon in the work Kol Bokhim, Venice, 1589); (3) Zekhut Avot, a kabbalistic commentary on the tractate Avot (in the work Beit Avot, Bilgoraj, 1911); and (4) Minhagei Ḥasidut, published by S. Schechter (1908). Ḥ.J.D. *Azulai relates that Galante built the court of Meron where the graves of *Simeon b. Yoḥai and his son Eleazar are located.
bibliography:
S. Schechter, Studies in Judaism, 2 (1908), 208–9, 273–5, 294–7; G. Scholem, Kitvei Yad be-Kabbalah (1930), 102–4; idem, Bibliographia Kabbalistica (Ger., 1933), 187–8; M. Benayahu, Toledot ha-Ari (1967), 111–5, index; D. Tamar, Meḥkarim be-Toledot Yehudim be-Ereẓ Yisrael u-ve-Italyah (1970), 101–6.
[David Tamar]