ר׳ עובדיה מברטנורא

ר׳ עובדיה ירא מברטנורא (בערך 1445–1515), commonly called the Bartenura or רע״ב, was an Italian rabbi, traveler and the author of the standard commentary on the Mishnah. A student of ר׳ יוסף קולון, he served communities in Bertinoro and Città di Castello before leaving Italy in 1486. His surviving letters describe a journey through Rome, Naples, Salerno, Palermo, Rhodes, Alexandria, Cairo, Gaza, Hebron and Bethlehem, ending in Jerusalem shortly before Passover 1488. Finding a small and impoverished community, he became its rabbinic and communal leader, strengthened charitable provision and Torah study, and established a yeshiva. His concise Mishnah commentary, drawing especially on ר׳ שלמה יצחקי and ר׳ משה בן מימון, became the most widely printed traditional guide to the text.