ר׳ נפתלי בן יצחק הכהן כ״ץ

ר׳ נפתלי בן יצחק הכהן כ״ץ (1648–1719), known as the סמיכת חכמים, was a prominent rabbi and kabbalist whose career connected Volhynia, Poland, Germany and the Ottoman world. Born in Ostroh to a distinguished rabbinic family, he was captured by Tatars as a youth and escaped after several years. He later succeeded his father in Ostroh and in 1690 became chief rabbi of Poznań. In 1704 he accepted the rabbinate of Frankfurt am Main. His major work סמיכת חכמים, printed in Frankfurt in two parts in 1704–06, developed connections among rabbinic texts and included his commentary on Berakhot. A devastating Frankfurt fire began in his home in 1711. Accusations that he had relied on practical Kabbalah rather than immediately combating the flames led to arrest and a trial; he was acquitted but left the city. He later spent time in Prague and Breslau and became involved in the controversy surrounding ר׳ נחמיה חייא חיון. Setting out toward the Land of Israel, he died in Constantinople in 1719. Later tradition remembers both his rabbinic authority and intense kabbalistic piety.