Judah Albotini

Judah ben Moses Albotini succeeded Jacob of Triel as head of the yeshiva of Jerusalem and, consequently, as chief rabbi of Jerusalem. Albotini wrote a number of halakhic and kabbalistic books that remain in manuscript. His main work, Yesod Mishneh Torah (Foundation of the Mishneh Torah), concerns the sources used by Maimonides when formulating halakhah in his Mishneh Torah. Albotini’s Sulam ha-‘aliyah (The Ladder of Ascension), his only known kabbalistic work, is a manual for contemplative mystics. His other mystical work, Mar’ot Elohim (Divine Visions), has not survived.