ḲALA'I, MORDECAI B. SOLOMON:

By: Solomon Schechter, N. T. London

Turkish rabbi and author; lived in the first half of the seventeenth century. He was the pupil of R. Aaron Ḥason, R. Aaron Sason, and R. Isaac Franco, and was the chief teacher of the Portuguese yeshibah at Salonica. R. Daniel Estrumsa and R. David Conforte were among his scholars. All his responsa and sermons prior to 1625 were destroyed in the great fire which devastated Salonica in that year. Ḳala'i is mentioned in the responsa of Solomon ha-Levi (Nos. 10 and 29; Salonica, 1652), at whose funeral he delivered a sermon. He is also mentioned in the responsa "Mekor Ḥayyim" of his brother R. Baruch Ḳala'i (pp. 16, 17, 34, 45), and in those of R. Joseph di Trani (No. 81) and of Judah Lerma, rabbi at Belgrade ("Peleṭat Bet Yehudah," No. 2).

S. S. N. T. L.