Solomon le-vet ha-Levi

Solomon le-vet ha-Levi was a leading rabbinic authority in Salonika. Thanks to his family’s wealth, he was able to receive both a rabbinic and a secular education. He began writing and corresponding with halakhic figures from a young age. In 1568, he received his first appointment as rabbi, rabbinic judge, and halakhic decisor for two congregations in Skopje, Macedonia. After returning to Salonika two years later, he served as a rabbi at the Provençal congregation and later succeeded Abraham Siralvo at the Évora congregation. Divre Shelomoh (The Words of Solomon), is a two-volume collection of sermons, given from 1568 to 1574, published in Salonika in 1575 and Venice in 1596. He also wrote biblical commentaries, translations of Greek philosophy, and responsa.