Attia, Shem Tov
ATTIA, SHEM TOV
ATTIA, SHEM TOV (c. 1530–after 1601), rabbi and kabbalist. He lived in Salonika but settled in Safed before 1570. Attia was one of the 12 disciples of Isaac *Luria who requested Ḥayyim *Vital to reveal to them the secrets of the Kabbalah which he had learned from their master. His only extant halakhic work is his responsa on the laws of the sabbatical year, published in the responsa Avkat Rokhel (1791, no. 25) of Joseph Caro. Nathan Shapira included Attia's responsum on wine made by Gentiles in the introduction to his book, Yayin ha-Meshummar (Venice, 1660). In Safed he gave an approbation to the responsa of Moses *Galante and was a signatory to the regulation passed by the scholars of Safed exempting rabbis from taxation. Apparently, Attia left Safed, for in 1591 he was mentioned among the scholars of Adrianople. In 1601 he was again in Safed where he headed the Bet Va'ad (the local community council). In this capacity, his signature appears first among the 20 leading scholars of Safed.
bibliography:
Tamar, in: Tarbiz, 27 (1957/58), 108–10.