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Isaac of Acre

Isaac of Acre

1250 CE–1340 CE · Rishonim · Acre (Akko)

Rabbi Isaac ben Samuel of Acre was a kabbalist of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. He was living in Crusader Acre when the city fell to the Mamluks in 1291; imprisoned during the siege, he escaped the massacre and made his way to Spain around 1305. There he undertook a famous investigation into the origins of the Zohar — meeting Moses de León and, after de León's death, traveling to Ávila to probe its authorship — an episode foundational to the scholarly study of the Zohar. His own kabbalistic works include Me'irat Einayim, a commentary on Nachmanides, and Otzar HaChayim.

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Stop 1 of 31270–1291Born

Acre (Akko)עכוLand of Israel — Crusader Kingdom

What they did here

Lived in Crusader Acre until its fall to the Mamluks in 1291; imprisoned during the siege, he escaped the massacre.

About Acre (Akko)

Acre (Akko), a Mediterranean port city in the northern Land of Israel, was the Crusader capital during the thirteenth century and home to a significant Jewish community, including a circle of French Tosafist scholars who immigrated there. Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (Nachmanides, the Ramban) settled in Acre after his arrival in the Land of Israel in 1267 and lived there until his death around 1270.

Across the traditions, in Acre (Akko) at the same time

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In the same place & time

Sages whose lives overlapped with Isaac of Acre’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

Across the traditions

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Isaac of Acre’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Jewish world

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