R. Naphtali b. Joseph Ashkenazi (c. 1540–1602), rabbi in Safed. R. Ashkenazi studied in the two great yeshivot of the Ashkenazi community in Safed and was later appointed preacher there. He suffered great privation as a result of the deterioration in the economic situation, and in 1595 went to Egypt and then Italy. In Mantua he made the acquaintance of R. Moses Berab. Leone Modena held Ashkenazi in high esteem and wrote a poem in praise of his book. In Venice, he was received with great honor and the rosh yeshivah, R. Ben Zion Zarefati, invited Ashkenazi to join his staff. During his stay in the city he was the guest of the wealthy Kalonymus Belgrado, founder of the yeshivah. He discovered the manuscripts of R. Solomon b. Abraham Adret's Avodat ha-Kodesh and Abraham b. David of Posquilres' Ba'alei Nefesh and published them in Venice in 1602. He planned to return to Erez Israel, but died in Venice. The eulogy on him by R. Leone Modena was published in his Midbar Yehudah (78ff.).

מעבר לשער: שיר, מאת ר' יהודה אריה ממודינא [פותח: שא נא קורא / עיניך וראה / ספר אמרי / שפר דורש]. דרושים. עיין על הספר: יצחק ריבקינד, דקדוקי-ספרים - ספר היובל לכבוד אלכסנדר מארכס, נוירק תש"י, עמ' תכד, מס' 31.