Fontanella, Israel Berechiah Ben Joseph Jekuthiel

Italian rabbi and cabalist; lived at Reggio Emilia, later at Rovigo, at the end of the seventeenth century and in the first half of the eighteenth. He was also an eminent Talmudist (see Lampronti, "Paḥad Yiẓḥaḳ," s.v. ). An adept in the Cabala, he edited the "Mafteḥot ha-Zohar," Venice, 1744, a twofold index to the Zohar, attributed to a certain Samuel. The first volume contains an index of subjects; the second an index of the Biblical passages quoted.

Bibliography:

  * Educatore Israelitico, xxviii. 248;
  * Mortara, Indice, p. 24: Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 700.



G. I. Br.