Israel Sarug

Israel Sarug Ashkenazi (Hebrew: ר׳ ישראל סרוג אשכנזי , also סרוק Saruk or Srugo, known also as רי״ס the Ris and מהר״י סרוג Mahari Sarug, fl. 1590–1610) was a pupil of Isaac Luria who devoted himself at the death of his master to the propagation of Lurianic Kabbalah, through which he gained many adherents in various parts of Italy. Among these, the most prominent were Menahem Azariah da Fano, whom he persuaded to spend large sums of money in the acquisition of Luria's manuscripts; and Aaron Berechiah of Modena, author of the Ma'avar Yabbok. Sarug also lectured in various places in Germany and in Amsterdam. In the latter city one of his disciples was Abraham Cohen de Herrera.

Sarug's school of Kabbalah has produced several major texts, of:

  • Limudei Atzilut, the major compendium of Sarugian teachings on Kabbalah (Muncacz, 1897)
  • Drush HaMalbush, another major publication in the Sarugian worldview (Jerusalem, 2001)
  • Kabbalah, a Kabbalistic essay published in the Matzref LaChochmah of Joseph Delmedigo (Basel, 1629)
  • Hanhagot Yisrael, or Tikkun Keri/Keri Mikra (Salonica, 1752), a methodology of asceticism
  • Kuntres Ne'im Zemirot Yisrael, a commentary on three of Luria's piyyutim for Shabbat (Nowy Oleksiniec, 1767)
  • Gilgulei Neshamot, published under the name of Menahem Azariah da Fano, a collection of traditions regarding identifications of soul transmigrations (Jerusalem, 2001)
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