Famous medieval ashkenazi kabbalist rabbi Menahem Recanati flourished here in the 13th century. He later married Ruth, daughter of the kabbalist Rabbi Rachamim Attia. His father, Yehoshua Gibstein, was a rabbi and a kabbalist. Joseph Karo, an author and kabbalist, settled in Safed in 1563. Masson's great-grandfather Shlomo Moussaieff was a kabbalist and founder of the Bukharian Quarter in Jerusalem. In 1570 Vital became a student of Isaac Luria, the foremost kabbalist of the day. He also claimed to be a direct descendant of the famous Greek Kabbalist Joseph Taitazak. Mikweh Israel was written by the 17th-century kabbalist Menasseh Ben Israel. As an adult, she has studied Kabbalist teachings. Passing through Salonica, he met the great kabbalist Joseph Taitazak. For the Kabbalist, God is a single oneness, not separate "gods".