Rabbi Moshe Zacuto (Ramaz): The Great Italian Kabbalist, Poet, and Rabbi

By: Nosson Wiggins

Rabbi Moshe Zacuto, the great Italian poet and Kabbalist, was born around 1610 in Amsterdam. His father, Mordechai, was a Converso Jew whose origins were in Portugal and descended from the renowned astronomer and historian, Rabbi Avraham Zacuto, author of the historical work, “Sefer Yuchsin.”

In his youth, Rabbi Moshe Zacuto studied in the famed Eitz Chayim yeshiva in Amsterdam, established by Rabbi Shaul Levi Morteira (1596-1660). Rabbi Morteira, an Italian rabbi from Venice, also served as rabbi of the Portuguese Bais Yaakov community in Amsterdam.

Torah education in the Eitz Chayim yeshiva in the early 1600s was broad in nature. In addition to Tanach,Mishnah, and Gemara, they also studied Hebrew, including grammar and poetry. In these early years, Rabbi Zacuto developed a strong appreciation for the Hebrew language which would later express itself in the many poems that he wrote.

He was inclined to mysticism from his youth, and at one time fasted forty days that he might forget the Latin which he had learned since he believed it could not be reconciled with Kabbalistic truths. After his family moved to Hamburg, Rabbi Moshe Zacuto left that city and travelled to Posen, Poland, where he studied Kabbalah with Rabbis Elchanan and Yitzchak. Rabbi Yitzchak of Posen was one of the students of Rabbi Shabsi Sheftel Halevi, the son of Rabbi Yeshayah Halevi Horowitz, author of “Shnei Luchos HaBris.”

After studying in Poland, Rabbi Zacuto planned to move to Eretz Yisrael, but on his way through Italy he was informed that the elderly sage Rabbi Azaryah Piccio (author of the two prominent sefarim: Binah Le-Ittimand Gedolei Teruma) was searching for someone to replace him as rabbi of Venice. From the letter of recommendation that he presented at Venice in 1672, it is clear that he intended to make a pilgrimage to Palestine, but on the way, was persuaded to remain in Venice as a rabbi. After accepting the position, Rabbi Zacuto spent the next 28 years (1645-1673) as rabbi in Venice, with the exception of a short residence in Padua from 1645 until the summer of 1673. He was then called to Mantua at a fixed salary of 300 ducats, and remained there until his death, twenty-four years later.

While in Mantua, he established a yeshiva which attracted students from faraway lands.

One of Rabbi Zacuto’s most prominent students, Rabbi Binyamin HaKohen of Reggio (known by the acronym Rabach) was instrumental in bringing his master to the city of Mantua. (Rabbi Binyamin ha-Kohen of Reggio was the father-in-law of two prominent Italian rabbis, Rabbi Yeshayahu Bassan and Rabbi Menashe of Padua). Rabbi Zacuto remained in Mantua for twenty-five years where he served as rabbi and rosh yeshiva until his passing on the second day of Succos, 1697.

Rabbi Moshe Zacuto authored and oversaw the publishing of a number of major sefarim. In addition to more than a dozen works on the subject of Kabbalah, Rabbi Zacuto authored: a commentary on the TalmudYerushalmi, a commentary on the Mishnah titled Kol ha-Ramaz, Shuda D’dayni, regulations regarding monetary law, Hein Kol Chadash, a collection of songs and poems, and a collection of responsa and letters.

He also wrote penitential poems for the service on the evening before rosh chodesh, as well as prayers for Hoshana Rabbah and similar occasions, all in the spirit of the Kabbalah. He also authored a poem containing a thousand words, each beginning with the letter aleph. In his Shorshei Hashemot (Book of the Roots of Names) he included long quotations of the Fez Kabbalist R’ Isaiah Bakish. 

Nosson Wiggins (@jewishhistorysheimhagedolim) is the author of two books on the subject of Jewish history, “The Tannaim & Amoraim” and “The Rishonim” (Judaica Press). He researches Jewish History at the Klau Library, HUC-JIR in his hometown of Cincinnati and leads tours of Klau’s Rare Book Room. He is a passionate enthusiast of Jewish history and when he’s not in the hospital working as a nurse, he can be found researching and writing posts for his Substack, “Jewish History—Shem Hagedolim.”