R. Samson b. Joshua Moses Morpurgo (1681–1740), Italian rabbi and physician. R. Samson was born in Gradisca d'Isonzo, Friuli. While still young he was taken by his parents to neighboring Gorizia, where he studied under R. Jacob Hai Gentili, the rabbi of the community, and his son, R. Manasseh. At the age of 12 or 13 he moved to Venice and there received a thorough education in the yeshivah of R. Samuel Aboab as well as from his old teacher R. Manasseh Gentili who had meanwhile moved to Venice. After some years he went to Padua to study medicine in the university there and in 1700 received the degree of doctor of philosophy and medicine. From then on he devoted himself to the study of Talmud, traveling between Padua and Venice and between Gorizia and Mantua where he studied under the outstanding scholar R. Briel, who in 1709 ordained him rabbi. In that year he was appointed a member of the bet din of the kabbalist R. Joseph Fiametta (Lehavah) whose daughter Rebecca he married. On the death of his wife in 1716 he married her sister, Judith. On the death of his father-in-law in 1721 R. Samson succeeded him as rabbi of the community, a post he held until his death. R. Morpurgo had connections with all the great scholars of his generation, who turned to him for counsel on complicated cases in the field of halakhah, among them R. Isaac Lampronti, who quotes Samson's rulings in his Pahad Yizhak, R. Moses Hagiz, and R. Benjamin ha-Kohen of Reggio. His skill as a doctor in Ancona, recognized by both Jews and Christians, and his profound compassion, particularly toward the suffering poor, won him the love and respect of all. In 1730 a devastating influenza plague swept Ancona, and, despite the Church ban against Jewish doctors' treating the Christian sick, R. Samson distinguished himself in the care he gave to all the town's inhabitants. In consequence, Cardinal Lambertini publicly presented him in 1731 with a document which expressed his gratitude and his esteem for R. Samson's devotion. The Or Boker (Venice, 1741) contains a prayer that was said at his grave on the anniversary of his death. The following additional of his works have been published: Confutazioni alle Saette del Gionata del Benetelli (Venice, 1703–04), a polemic against the Christian priest Luigi Maria Benetelli who wrote Le Saette di Gionata scagliate a favor degli Ebrei (1703), a book filled with hatred of the Jews and their religion; Ez ha-Da'at (ibid., 1704), a philosophical commentary on the Behinat Olam of Jedaiah Bedersi.

רוב ההסכמות כוללות גם שירים בשבח הספר. דף קיז, ב: התנצלות המעתיק, ר' דוד ב"ר שמואל מידילייאנו; דברי המגיה, ר' שלמה זלמן ב"ר מאיר מלבוב, בשמו ובשם חבריו המגיהים ר' שלמה אלטראס ור' שמחה קאלימאני. הסכמות: ועד הקטן של ויניציאה: יעקב חי לוי, יצחק חי די פאס, יצחק פואה, יצחק לוי משולמים, אהרן ב"י כהן ושמואל חי לוי מוייא , סופר הקהל, ו תמוז תק"ב; ר' יצחק ב"ר אשר פאציפיקו, בשם רבני הישיבה, ויניציאה, עקב תק"ב; ר' דוד ישראל עטיאס ור' יצחק חיים ן' דנא די בריטו, אמשטרדם, יז שבט תק"ג; ר' אריה ליב [ב"ר שאול], אמשטרדם; ר' רפאל ב"ר אלעזר מילדולה, ליוורנו, הוד למב"י [ל ניסן] תק"ג; ר' יצחק ב"ר שמואל לאמפרונטי, פירארה; ר' יחיאל ב"ר יעקב כהן, בשם חכמי הישיבה, אנקונה, כד תמוז תק"ג; ר' חיים ב"ר משה וולטירה, סניגאליה, יז תמוז תק"ג; ר' דוד ב"ר רפאל מילדולה, אמשטרדם, בשלח תק"ג; ר' דניאל ב"ר משה נחמו.