(RaDBa”Z). Magen David [Kabbalistic commetnary on the Hebrew alphabet]

Published from a manuscript owned by David Oppeneim of Prague. Born in Spain, the RaDBa”Z left before the Expulsion and settled for a while in Fez, from where he migrated to Egypt. He became the official head of Egyptian Jewry, serving as Dayan and principal of the Yeshivah in Cairo. After reaching old age he journeyed to Jerusalem where he died at the age of one hundred and ten. His fame rests in his responsa and although a kabbalist, he introduced such notions into his decisions only when not in contradiction with the Talmud. He wrote Magen David as a young man. Indeed, gematrioth (numerical values of letters) played an important role in his kabbalistic system. See M. Waxman Vol. II pp. 179-81.