ר׳ נתן נטע שפירא

ר׳ נתן נטע בן שלמה שפירא (c.1585–1633), known as the מגלה עמוקות, was a major early-modern Polish kabbalist, preacher, dayan and rosh yeshiva. Born in Kazimierz beside Kraków into a distinguished rabbinic family, he was named for his grandfather, the Grodno rabbi who wrote מבוא שערים and אמרי שפר. He probably studied in the intellectual circle of ר׳ מאיר בן גדליה מלובלין and became renowned for combining exacting rabbinic learning with a numerically and symbolically intricate Kabbalah influenced by Lurianic traditions. In 1617 he succeeded to leadership of the principal Talmudic academy in Kazimierz and served on the rabbinical court. His מגלה עמוקות על ואתחנן offered 252 interpretations—רנ״ב אופנים—of the prayer of משה רבנו in Deuteronomy 3:23–25. Published by his son at Kraków in 1637, four years after the author’s death, it became a classic of Ashkenazic Kabbalah. Other Torah writings circulated in manuscript and appeared much later. He died in Kraków in 1633 and is buried in the Remuh Cemetery, where his tombstone identifies him as a revered teacher and revealer of hidden meanings.