C. 1685 - 1732 JACOB CULI (Eretz Israel-Turkey)
Rabbi and commentator. In addition to his own writings Culi helped edit and publish the writing of the Chief Rabbi of Constantinople, Judah Rosanes (Parashat Derakhim), as well as the works of his grandfather, Moses ibn Habib. Yet his real fame lies in his easy-to-read commentary on the Bible that was originally written in Ladino, Me-Am Lo'ez. This enormously popular commentary brought to the masses, who didn't understand Hebrew, the Midrashic anecdotes and folklore behind each Torah portion. Although he only published a small amount of it in his lifetime, others took up his notes and completed the work after his death. It was later translated into Hebrew and even into English.
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