Rav Shmuel was born in Hamburg in the year 5370/שע. In his youth, he gained renown as a child prodigy, and he was well-versed in Shas and derashos. He studied under Rav Maharam Arbiv and Rav Dovid Franco in Venice, which at that time was a great city and a bastion of Torah knowledge. At the age of eighteen, he married the daughter of Rav Dovid Franco and was appointed Reish Mesivta in Verona. His breadth of Torah knowledge was legendary and he paskened shailos which were sent to him by all the rabbis and sages of Italy. Later, he was appointed Chief Rav of Venice (out of the some seventy rabbonim in the city) and given the honorary title “Rashba Ohr HaGola” (Rashba is an acronym for “Rav Shmuel ben Avrohom”).
Rav Shmuel authored the sefer Devar Shmuel, which contains 377 responsa on many difficult and complex topics. He also authored seforim on the taryag mitzvos, the Zohar and kavanos. Although Rav Shmuel was a wealthy man, he often fasted and afflicted himself in pursuit of greater holiness. He was fearless in defending the honor of Hashem, and was one of the first to confront the followers of the false messiah Shabbtai Tzvi.
His four sons were all respected rabbonim, gaonim and tzaddikim. His eldest son, Rav Yaakov Asher, wrote the introduction to Devar Shmuel and succeeded his father as Rav. His sons Rav Avrohom and Rav Dovid served as poskim, and his youngest son, Rav Yosef, succeeded him as Rosh Yeshiva.
Rav Shmuel passed away at the age of 84 on 1 Elul in the year 5404/תד.
