Israel ben Meir di Curiel

Neither the birthplace nor the birth date of Israel ben Meir di Curiel is known.[1] Before settling in Safed, he studied under Rabbi Joseph Fasi in Adrianople and apparently held a rabbinic position in one of that city's congregations.[1] He evidently also spent time in Istanbul before making his way to the Land of Israel.[1]

Upon reaching Safed, Di Curiel continued his studies under Jacob Berab. The Jewish Virtual Library identifies him as one of Berab's ordainees, while the Jewish Encyclopedia's account treats that identification as conditional.[1][3] He later served on the Safed bet din alongside Joseph Caro and Moses Trani.[1]

Di Curiel was recognized as a kabbalist and described as a "famous cabalist."[2] His pupils included Bezalel Ashkenazi and Mordecai ha-Kohen of Safed.[1][2] He was also regarded as one of the outstanding preachers of his time. A corpus of his homilies was published by S. Regev in the 1992 Hebrew volume Rabbi Israel di Curiel, Sermons and Homilies, with biographical notes by Meir Benayahu.[1]

A National Library of Israel catalog record for an eighteenth-century Hebrew autograph manuscript of responsa attributed to Raphael Israel Kimhi and held at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America reproduces a publication note concerning a copy of a ban related to the regulation of Isaac Sholal the nagid. The note names Rabbi Joseph Caro, "ישראל בר מאיר" (Israel bar Meir), and Moses ben Joseph di Trani as signatories and states that the text was printed in the introduction to Keter Torah by Samuel di Avila and in Caro's responsa Avkat Rokhel, section 1. The manuscript's eighteenth-century date concerns the codex as a whole and does not establish Di Curiel's lifetime.[4]

Among Di Curiel's pupils was Rabbi Bezalel Ashkenazi, born around 1520 in Jerusalem or Safed. Ashkenazi studied in his youth under Di Curiel and later received instruction from David ben Solomon Ibn Abi Zimra. During the lifetime of his teachers, Ashkenazi was regarded as one of the highest authorities in the Orient.[5][6]

Another pupil, Mordecai ha-Kohen of Safed, flourished in the second half of the sixteenth century and was characterized as a kabbalist and scholar. Joseph di Trani mentioned Mordecai in his responsa.[2]

Di Curiel's work Or Ẓaddikim was printed in Salonica in 1799, though it was mistakenly attributed to Joseph Caro at the time of publication. His homiletical writings, published in 1992, preserve a direct record of his work as a preacher.[1]

His family connection to later Jewish cultural life is also notable: the liturgical poet Rabbi Israel Najara is identified as Di Curiel's grandson.[1]

Sources render his name as Israel ben Meir di Curiel, Israel di Curiel, and Israel de Curial.[1][3] Separately, a National Library of Israel catalog record lists a contributor as "קוריאל, ישראל" (Israel Curiel) and names a signatory as "ישראל בר מאיר" (Israel bar Meir), but does not explicitly equate the two.[4]

The status of Di Curiel as one of Jacob Berab's four ordainees is also presented differently across the sources. The Jewish Encyclopedia states with certainty that Joseph Caro and Moses Trani were two of the four, but proposes Abraham Shalom and Israel de Curial as the other two only conditionally: "If the other two were Abraham Shalom and Israel de Curial."[3] The Jewish Virtual Library identifies Di Curiel as an ordainee without that qualification.[1] The discrepancy reflects the limits of the surviving documentation rather than a firmly settled historical record.