Samson ben Pesah Ostropoli

Samson ben Pesah Ostropoli (died July 15, 1648), was a Polish rabbi from Ostropol who was martyred at Polonnoye, Volhynia, during the Khmelnytsky Uprising. When the Cossacks laid siege to Polonnoye, Samson, with 300 of his followers, arrayed in their shrouds and praying-shawls, went to the synagogue, and stood there praying until the enemy came and butchered them all.

Ostropoli was a noted kabalist. He was the author of a commentary (published by his nephew Pesaḥ at Zolkiev in 1709) on the kabalistic work Ḳarnayim. According to the author of Yewen Meẓulah, he wrote also a commentary on the Zohar, titled Machane Dan, in conformity with the cabalistic system of Isaac Luria, but this work has not been preserved. Other works of his are:

• Dine we-Hanhagot ha-Adam (Ostrog, 1793), a collection of cabalistic liturgical regulations from the works of Ostropoli and other cabalists
• Sefer Liḳḳuṭim (Grodno, 1794), cabalistic exegetics and elucidations of many passages in the Zohar and other works
• Nifla'ot Ḥadashot (ib. 1797), elucidations of the Pentateuch and the Five Megillot, and homiletics

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

• Grätz, Gesch. x.57, 65, Leipzig, 1897;
• Yewen Meẓulah, section Gezerah Deḳaḳ, Polonah;
• Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, i.181, Wilna, 1852;
• Gurland, Le-Korot ha-Gezerot, ii.25, vi.60 et seq.;
• Fürst, Bibl. Jud. iii.357.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Ostropoli, Samson ben Pesah". Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company. 

External links

• A Kabbalistic Letter written by Rabbi Samson of Ostropoli traditionally read in Hassidic circles on the eve of Passover