| has gloss | eng: Samuel ben Hayyim Vital (16th century) was a Kabalist born in Damascus in the latter half of the sixteenth century. While still young he married a daughter of Isaiah Pinto, rabbi of Damascus. Poverty compelled him to emigrate to Egypt, where, through the influence of prominent men, he was placed in charge of the cabalistic society Tiḳḳune ha-Teshubah. After a brief residence there he went to Safed, where he instructed the physician Joseph Zemah in Kabala. In the middle of the 17th century he returned to Egypt, where he died. |