a native of Lisbon, was one of the most profound Talmudists of the 17th century. He wrote צפנת פענח, the "Revealer of Secrets" (Venice, 1661), a commentary on the most difficult passages of Ecclesiastes and Job, in fourteen chapters, which, besides the exposition of the passages, considers very important questions. Thus, for instance, in the first chapter he treats on the question "whether, in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, the immortality of the soul is denied;" and in the ninth chapter, "whether Job did deny, the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the dead." See Furst, Bibl. Jud. 3, 105; De Rossi, Dizzionario storico degli autori Ebrei, p. 265 (German trans. by Hamburger); Wolf, Bibl. Hebr. 1, 1206; 3, 1111; Lindo, History of the Jews in Spain and Portugal, p. 369. (B. P.)