Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz

Solomon ha-Levi Alkabetz (; – 1584) was a rabbi, kabbalist and poet. He is perhaps best known for his composition of the song Lekha Dodi.

Biography Solomon Alkabetz was likely born around 1505 into a Sephardic family in the Ottoman city of Salonica. the son of Moses Alkabetz. He studied Torah under Joseph Taitazak. In 1529, he married the daughter of Yitzhak Cohen, a wealthy householder living in his hometown. Alkabetz gave his father-in-law a copy of his newly completed work Manot ha-Levi. He settled in Adrianúpolis, where he wrote Bet Hashem, Avotot Ahava, Ayelet Ahavim and Brit HaLevi. He dedicated this latter work to his admirers in Adrianople. His students included Samuel ben Isaac de Uçeda, author of the Midrash Shmuel on the Pirkei Avot, and Abraham ben Mordecai Galante, author of Yareach Yakar on the Zohar. His circle included Moshe Alshich and Joseph Karo, as well as his famous brother-in-law Moses ben Jacob Cordovero.

Following the practice described in the Zohar of reciting biblical passages known as the "Tikkun'" on the night of Shavuot, Rabbi Solomon and Rabbi Joseph Karo stayed awake all that night reading. During the recitation of the required texts, Rabbi Karo had a mystical experience: The Shekhinah appeared as a maggid, praising the circle and telling them to move to the Land of Israel. When they stayed up again on the second night of Shavuot, the Shekhinah was adamant about their moving to the Land of Israel. Alkabetz recorded the account. Before moving to the Land of Israel, he made a sermon passionately discussing the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem with messianic enthusiasm.