Shimon Lavi
Hakham Shimon Lavi | |
|---|---|
Title page of Ketem Paz, Part I, by Hakham Shimon Lavi | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | Shimon Lavi 1486 Spain |
| Died | 1585 (aged 98–99) Tripoli, Libya |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Position | Dayan (rabbinical court judge) |
| Organisation | Tripoli rabbinical court |
| Began | 1549 |
| Ended | 1585 |
| Yahrtzeit | 15 Av 5345 |
| Buried | Tripoli |
Shimon Lavi (Hebrew: שמעון לביא, also Shimon ibn Lavi, Hebrew: שמעון אבן לביא, anglicized as Simeon Labi, 1486–1585) was a Sephardi Hakham, kabbalist, physician, astronomer, and poet. He is credited with the founding of religious institutions and the revival of Torah study in Tripoli, Libya, in the mid-sixteenth century, where he served as spiritual leader and dayan (rabbinical court judge) for more than three decades. He authored a commentary on the Zohar titled Ketem Paz and the piyyut, "Bar Yochai", a kabbalistic hymn which became widely popular in the Jewish world. Libyan Jews consider him their greatest scholar.