About: Yaakov de Castro

Yaakov de Castro (Hebrew: יעקב קשטרו), alternative spelling: Yaakov Costaro (1525–1610), was a rabbinic scholar, judge and exponent of Jewish law in Cairo, Egypt. A descendant of Jews who fled Portugal during the time of the Portuguese Inquisition, his family eventually came to settle in Egypt. A student of the illustrious Radbaz (Rabbi David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra), he is considered the last Chief Rabbi of Egypt to hold sway over the entire Jewish community in Egypt, mostly Musta'arabi Jews, after the abolition of the office of nagid, and whose halachic rulings were widespread across the land. He was a nephew (not a son, as had been believed) of the master of the mint for the Ottoman Sultan in Cairo, Abraham de Castro.