Moses Trani

A rabbinic and communal leader of Safed for more than fifty years, Moses ben Joseph Trani was born in Salonika to a family of Iberian origin. He moved at the age of eight to Adrianople (Edirne), where he studied with his uncle, Aaron of Trani, and with Joseph Fasi. At eighteen, he moved to Safed where he taught Torah, studied under Joseph Berab, and, along with his rabbinic rival, Joseph Karo, was among the students ordained by Berab in an attempt to renew the ancient chain of semikhah (rabbinic ordination). His son, Joseph ben Moses Trani, was chief rabbi of Constantinople.