Samuel de Medina (1505/6–1589), a major halakhic authority known by the acronym Maharashdam, was born and lived in Salonica. There are indications that his family came from Portugal, but the name connects it, perhaps at some earlier time, with Medina del Campo in Castile. De Medina had no recollection of his father, who died in his early childhood, and he was raised, and later supported, by his older brother.

De Medina had as his masters two great scholars. One was Levi ibn Ḥabib, who departed for Jerusalem in 1522/23, when De Medina was only seventeen. The other was Joseph Taitatzak (Taitaz…