Poppers, Meïr Ben Judah Löb Ha-Kohen Ashkenazi

Bohemian rabbi and cabalist; born at Prague; died at Jerusalem in Feb. or March, 1662. He studied the Cabala under Israel Ashkenazi and Jacob Ẓemaḥ, and he wrote a great number of works, all in the spirit of Isaac Luria; thirty-nine of them have "Or" as the beginning of their titles, in reference to his name "Meïr." His works which have been published are: "Or Ẓaddiḳim" (Hamburg, 1690), a mystical methodology, or exhortation to asceticism, based upon Issac Luria's writings, the Zohar, and other moral works (an enlarged edition of this work was published later under the title "Or ha-Yashar" [Fürth, 1754]); "Or Pene Melek," a treatise on the mysteries of the prayers and commandments, condensed and published under the title "Sefer Kawwanot Tefillot u-Miẓwot" (Hamburg, 1690); "Me'ore Or," an alphabetical arrangement of the cabalistic sacred names found in Isaac Luria's "Sefer ha-Kawwanot," published by Elijah b. Azriel, with the commentary "Ya'ir Natib" of Nathan Mannheimer and Jacob b. Benjamin Wolf, under the title "Me'orot Natan" (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1709); "Mesillot Ḥokmah" (Shklov, 1785), regulations and rules for the study of the Cabala.

Among his unpublished works the following may be mentioned: "Or Rab," a commentary on the Zohar; "Or ha-Abuḳah," a treatise on the Cabala; "Or Zarua'," a commentary on Ḥayyim Vital's "Derek 'Eẓ ha-Ḥayyim"; "Or Ner," on the transmigration of souls; "Or Ẓaḥ," on the order in which souls are linked together; "Derushim 'al ha-Torah," homilies on the Pentateuch; "Matoḳ ha-Or," a cabalistic commentary on the haggadah of the Talmud and Midrash Rabbah.

Bibliography:

  * Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, i. 120;
  * Fürst, Bibl. Jud. iii. 113-114;
  * Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1709.



K. M. Sel.