שבתי שפטל בן עקיבא הלוי הורוביץ

Rav Shabtai Sheftel ben Akiva HaLevi Horowitz (5326/1565 – 5379/1619) was a mekubal and physician among the chachamim of Prague at the start of the seventeenth century, author of the kabbalistic Shefa Tal. His father, Rav Akiva HaLevi Horowitz, was a brother of Rav Avraham HaLevi Horowitz, the father of the Shelah, and Rav Shabtai Sheftel was named for their shared grandfather, a leader of Prague’s kehillah in the earlier sixteenth century.

He followed the path of the Ramak, Rav Moshe Cordovero, in kabbalah, and along its lines wrote Shefa Tal — its name hinting at his own name, Sheftel — upon the Igeret HaTe’amim of the early mekubal Rav Aharon Avraham ben Baruch Shimon HaLevi. Printed with many illustrations in 5372/1612, it became one of the basic works of kabbalah and was reprinted many times. In his introduction he set the Rambam and Rav Moshe Cordovero side by side — the one in divine philosophy, the other in divine kabbalah.

He wrote Nishmat Shabbetai HaLevi (Prague, 5376/1616) to answer questions raised on his first sefer about the soul as a divine spark, and, according to the Seder HaDoroth, a commentary on the Moreh Nevuchim that appears to be lost. In Prague he was a neighbor of the Maharal.