ר׳ שמואל בן משה די מדינה

ר׳ שמואל בן משה די מדינה (1506–1589), known as מהרשד״ם, was among the leading Sephardi halakhic authorities of the Ottoman Empire. He was born and spent nearly all his life in Salonika, the great post-expulsion centre of Iberian Jewish learning. He studied under ר׳ יוסף טאיטאצאק and ר׳ לוי בן חביב, then headed an important academy supported by the philanthropist Donna Gracia Mendes. His pupils included ר׳ אברהם די בוטון, author of לחם משנה, and other major scholars who carried Salonikan learning throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Communities from the Balkans, Anatolia and Italy sent him difficult questions, especially in commercial law, communal jurisdiction, marriage and inheritance. His responsa preserve unusually rich evidence about merchants, congregations and the legal pluralism of the Ottoman Jewish world. He was also involved in major disputes of his age, including disagreement with ר׳ יוסף קארו on questions of authority and law. Apart from a communal mission to Constantinople, his securely documented career remained centred in Salonika. His responsa, sermons and talmudic novellae established him as a foundational posek for later Sephardi jurisprudence.