Nathan Nata Hanover. Sha’arei Tzion [a collection of mystical prayers, religious customs and ascetic reflections].

Nathan Nata Hanover (d. 1683), a native of Volhynia, survived the notorious Chmielnicki massacres of 1648-9 and recorded the atrocities in his woeful chronicle “Yeven Metzulah” (Venice, 1653). In Italy, where he sought refuge, he made the acquaintance of the great Kabbalists of the time: Moses Zacuto, Hayyim Cohen, Nathan Spira, and Benjamin HaLevi. In the present work, Sha’arei Zion (first ed. 1662), Hanover recorded for posterity the Lurianic traditions he imbibed from these men, his work in turn becoming immensely popular, serving as a conduit for Kabbalistic traditions.