ESPERANSSA, GABRIEL:
Rabbi at Safed contemporaneously with Jonathan Galante (middle of seventeenth century). It is supposed that he was received as an orphan into the house of a woman by the name of Esperanssa, who adopted and educated him, and whose name he assumed. Esperanssa was contentious and dogmatic; but was a thorough Talmudic scholar. He left several works, but only the collectanea to the Pentateuch have been published (Ḥayyim Abulafia, "'Eẓ Ḥayyim," p.137).
Bibliography:
- Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, s.v.;
- Conforte, Ḳore ha-Dorot, end.
