Samuel ben Isaac de Uçeda

Samuel ben Israel de Uçeda was a Palestinian commentator and preacher. Born at Safed in the first quarter of the sixteenth century, his name, Uçeda, originally was derived from the town of that name in the archbishopric of Toledo. He was a pupil of Isaac Luria and Hayyim Vital, with whom he studied Cabala, and became rabbi and preacher in Safed and, later, in Constantinople.

Samuel was the author of the following works: "Iggeret Shemu'el," commentary and supercommentary on the Book of Ruth (published in 1557; together with the text and the commentary of Rashi, Kuru Chesme, 1597; Amsterdam, 1712; Zolkiev, 1800); "Leḥem Dim'ah," commentary on Lamentations, with the text and the commentary of Rashi (Venice, 1600; Amsterdam, 1710, 1715); "Midrash Shemu'el " (Venice, 1579, 1585, 1597; Cracow, 1594; Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1713). The last-named work was his chief one, and consisted of a detailed commentary on the Pirkei Avot, with reference to the commentaries (at that time in manuscript) of Jonah Gerondi, Meïr Abulafia, Samuel ben Meïr, Menahem Me'iri, Samuel ibn Sid, Joseph ibn Nahmias, Baruch ibn Melek, Joseph ibn Susan, Moses Almosnino, and others, most of which have since been printed.

• Conforte, Ḳore ha-Dorot, pp. 42a, 48a;
• Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, i. 172;
• De Rossi-Hamberger, Hist. Wörterb. p. 254;
• Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. p. 2494;
• Fürst, Bibl. Jud. iii. 44.W. B. M. K.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilhelm Bacher and Meyer Kayserling (1901–1906). "Uçeda, Samuel ben Israel de". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.