The Elmaleh (al-Māliḥ) family originated in Iberia, but after the expulsion fled to Italy, North Africa, and the Ottoman Empire. Its earliest noteworthy member was  Abraham ben Judah Elmalik, who settled in Pesaro, Italy, in 1551, coming there from Salonica, or perhaps directly from Spain. He wrote Liqquṭe Shikhḥa u-Feʾa (Gleanings, Forgotten Sheaves, and the Corner [of the Field]; Ferrara, 1556), a kabbalistic interpretation of talmudic texts.