, d. 1661, Padua) was an Italian poet. A son of the physician Abraham Catalan, he was rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

 in his native town, and died there at an advanced age in 1661. It was to him that the first letters of Isaac Vita Cantarini, whose teacher he was, were addressed. His "Metzaref ha-Sekel", a rhetorical pamphlet on man, has never been published. He wrote a poem in honor of the marriage of his sister Perla to Raphael Gans Levi, which can be read either as Hebrew or as Italian. It has been reprinted by Johann Christoph Wolf

Johann Christoph Wolf

Johann Christoph Wolf was a German Christian Hebraist, polyhistor, and collector of books....

, Bibliotheca Hebræa iii. 726. In 1645 he wrote a similar poem in honor of Shabbethai Astruc. An elegy on Lamentations in ottava rima

Ottava rima

Ottava rima is a rhyming stanza form of Italian origin. Originally used for long poems on heroic themes, it later came to be popular in the writing of mock-heroic works. Its earliest known use is in the writings of Giovanni Boccaccio....

was also published by him at Padua.