ר׳ שמעון בן צמח דוראן

ר׳ שמעון בן צמח דוראן (1361–1444), the רשב״ץ, was a Majorcan-born rabbi, physician, philosopher and communal leader whose career bridged Christian Iberia and North Africa. Educated in Palma in Torah, medicine, mathematics, astronomy and philosophy, he lost his property during the anti-Jewish violence of 1391 and fled with his family to Algiers. There he worked beside ר׳ יצחק בר ששת ברפת and helped frame communal ordinances in 1394. He later became the leading rabbinic authority of Algiers. His hundreds of responsa illuminate the law, economy and communal life of western Mediterranean Jewry; מגן אבות ranges across theology, philosophy, polemic and a commentary on Pirkei Avot. His descendants formed an influential Algerian rabbinic dynasty.