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Isaac ben Moses of Vienna, also called Isaac Or Zarua or the Riaz, was among the greatest
rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...
s of the
Middle Ages. He was probably born in
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
and lived between 1200 and 1270. He attained his fame in
Vienna and his major work, the
halachic guide known as the ''Or Zarua'', was very popular among
Ashkenazic Jewry. He was a member of the
Chassidei Ashkenaz and studied under many scholars, including the
Ra'avyah Eliezer ben Yoel HaLevi of Bonn (Hebrew acronym Ra'avyah; 1140–1225To be more precise, it is only known that he died after 1220.) was a Rabbinic scholar in Germany. He had a significant influence on Asher ben Jehiel (the ROSH). As a Rishon, he w ...
, Rabbi
Yehudah HaChasid
Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg (1150 – 22 February 1217), also called Yehuda HeHasid or 'Judah the Pious' in Hebrew, was a leader of the Chassidei Ashkenaz, a movement of Jewish mysticism in Germany considered different from the 18th-century ...
, the
Sar mi'Kutzi and Rabbi
Elazar Rokeach. He was among the teachers of Rabbi
Meir of Rothenburg.
Life
In his ''Or Zarua'', the only primary source of information on his life, he mentions two Bohemian scholars as his teachers,
Jacob ha-Laban and
Isaac ben Jacob ha-Laban. Led by a thirst for
Talmudic knowledge, he undertook in his youth extensive journeys to the prominent ''
yeshivot'' of
Germany and
France. According to
Gross he went to
Ratisbon
Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...
first; but S.N. Bernstein conjectures that previously he stopped for a long time at
Vienna, and became closely identified with the city, as he is usually quoted as "Isaac of Vienna." From among the many scholars at Ratisbon he selected for his guide the
mystic Yehuda ben Samuel HaChasid.
About 1217 he went to
Paris, where the great Talmudist
Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon became his chief teacher. He also visited for a short time the ''yeshiva'' of
Jacob ben Meir
Jacob ben Meir (1100 – 9 June 1171 (4 Tammuz)), best known as Rabbeinu Tam ( he, רבינו תם), was one of the most renowned Ashkenazi Jewish rabbis and leading French Tosafists, a leading ''halakhic'' authority in his generation, and a gr ...
in
Provins. Then he returned to Germany, and studied under the mystic
Eleazar ben Judah at
Worms, and, at
Speyer, under
Simchah ben Samuel of Speyer Simḥa ben Samuel of Speyer (13th century) was a German rabbi and tosafist. Neither the year of his birth nor that of his death is known. He was one of the leading signatories of the Takkanot Shumcompare Moses Minz, Responsa, No. 202 He was a nephe ...
, his intimate friend, and
Eliezer ben Joel ha-Levi Eliezer ben Yoel HaLevi of Bonn (Hebrew acronym Ra'avyah; 1140–1225To be more precise, it is only known that he died after 1220.) was a Rabbinic scholar in Germany. He had a significant influence on Asher ben Jehiel (the ROSH). As a Rishon, he w ...
, author of ''Abi ha-'Ezri'' and ''Abi'asaf''. At
Würzburg, where Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg was his pupil (c. 1230), he became ''
rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva ( he, ראש ישיבה, pl. he, ראשי ישיבה, '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primar ...
.'' Later on, Isaac returned to Ratisbon, and then settled for some time in Vienna, where he held the position of ''
Av Beth Din
The ''av beit din'' ( ''ʾabh bêth dîn'', "chief of the court" or "chief justice"), also spelled ''av beis din'' or ''abh beth din'' and abbreviated ABD (), was the second-highest-ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Temple period, ...
'' and ''rosh yeshiva.'' Finally, he went to
Saxony and Bohemia.
Isaac lived a long but unsteady and troubled life. He saw the law compelling
Jews to wear the
yellow badge put into force in France, and he deplored the
pogrom in
Frankfurt-am-Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...
(1241) and the extortions practised upon them by the nobles of Austria. His son-in-law was
Samuel ben Shabbethai of
Leipzig; his son
Chaim Eliezer, called ''Or Zarua,'' like him a scholar, carried on a comprehensive halachic correspondence, a part of which (251 ''
responsa
''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars i ...
'') was printed under the title ''Sefer She'elot u-Teshubot'' (Leipzig, 1860).
Work
Toward the end of his life, about 1260, Isaac composed his ritual work ''Or Zarua.'' He is usually quoted as "Isaac Or Zarua." It was printed from the
Amsterdam incomplete manuscript by Lipa and Höschel in
Jitomir
Zhytomyr ( uk, Жито́мир, translit=Zhytomyr ; russian: Жито́мир, Zhitomir ; pl, Żytomierz ; yi, זשיטאָמיר, Zhitomir; german: Schytomyr ) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the administrative ...
, 1862. Other manuscripts are at
Oxford and in the
Jewish Theological Seminary in
New York City. In the edition of Lipa and Höschel ''Seder
Nezikin'' is wanting; most of the rest of the work was afterward printed at
Jerusalem by J.M. Hirschensohn.
The ''Or Zarua'' comprises the whole ritual, and is arranged according to the
Talmudic tractates, while at the same time the ''
halachot'' are kept together. The author, unlike
Maimonides in his ''Mishneh Torah,'' does not confine himself to giving the halachic decisions, but gives also the passage of the Talmud, explains the subject matter, and develops the ''din'' from it. Thus the ''Or Zarua'' is at the same time a ritual code and a Talmudic commentary. As it contains, in addition, explanations of some passages in the
Bible, the author is also quoted as a Bible commentator.
Moreover, the book contains a part of the halachic correspondence which the author carried on with Talmudic scholars of
Italy, France, and
Austria. Older collections of halachic decisions which the author had gathered together during his lifetime seem also to be embodied in the work. Isaac explains unknown words in Bohemian (i. e.
Czech), his mother tongue, and cites the ''
Jerusalem Talmud,'' to which he ascribes great authority in halachic decisions. The work is introduced by a treatise couched in words to whose meanings mystical significance is attached. It is an imitation of the
Alphabet of Akiba ben Joseph
Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva ( he, אלפא-ביתא דרבי עקיבא, ''Alpha-Beta de-Rabbi Akiva''), otherwise known as Letters of Rabbi Akiva ( he, אותיות דרבי עקיבא, ''Otiot de-Rabbi Akiva'') or simply Alphabet or Letters, is a mi ...
, and was composed at the order of Isaac's teacher
Eleazar ben Judah of Worms. Isaac's son Chaim Eliezer arranged a compendium of this work which exists in several manuscripts.
The ''Or Zarua'' succeeded in displacing all the older ritual works. It is very important also for the ''Kulturgeschichte'' of the
German Jews in the Middle Ages.
According to Gross, Isaac's chief importance rests upon the fact that he introduced among the Jewish communities in Slavic lands the study of the Talmud from France and the west of Germany.
Isaac was of a mild and peace-loving character and it was for this reason, perhaps, that he did not participate in the struggle against the study of secular sciences, though an incorrect ritual decision would rouse him to indignant energy. He carried on a controversy with several rabbis concerning the legal status of a betrothed girl who had been forced by circumstances to adopt
Christianity and had afterward returned to
Judaism. His anxiety for correct observance led him to counsel the more difficult rather than the easier ritual practise. His mystical studies account for his belief in miracles. He was held in high regard by his pupils, and, like other teachers of the time, was given the title ''Ha-Kadosh'' ("the holy", by the
Rosh). His contemporary
Isaiah di Trani
Isaiah di Trani ben Mali (the Elder) (c. 1180 – c. 1250) (), better known as the RID, was a prominent Italian Talmudist.
Biography
Isaiah originated in Trani, an ancient settlement of Jewish scholarship, and lived probably in Venice. He ...
described him as "the wonder of the age".
Bibliography from Jewish Encyclopedia article
*
S. N. Bernstein
Sergei Natanovich Bernstein (russian: Серге́й Ната́нович Бернште́йн, sometimes Romanized as ; 5 March 1880 – 26 October 1968) was a Ukrainian and Russian mathematician of Jewish origin known for contributions to parti ...
, in ''Ha-Ẓefirah,'' 1902, Nos. 229, 231, 232;
*
Heinrich Grätz, ''Gesch.'' vii.101;
* Gross, in ''Monatsschrift,'' 1871, pp. 248 et seq.;
*
Moritz Güdemann
Moritz Güdemann ( he, משה גידמן; 19 February 1835 – 5 August 1918) was an Austrian rabbi and historian. He served as chief rabbi of Vienna.
Biography
Moritz (Moshe) Güdemann attended the Jewish school in Hildesheim, and thereafter we ...
, ''Gesch.'' i.114, 152, 153;
*
Leopold Zunz
Leopold Zunz ( he, יום טוב צונץ—''Yom Tov Tzuntz'', yi, ליפמן צונץ—''Lipmann Zunz''; 10 August 1794 – 17 March 1886) was the founder of academic Judaic Studies (''Wissenschaft des Judentums''), the critical investigation ...
, Z.G. ''Index'';
** idem, in
Moritz Steinschneider
Moritz Steinschneider (30 March 1816, Prostějov, Moravia, Austrian Empire – 24 January 1907, Berlin) was a Moravian bibliographer and Orientalist. He received his early instruction in Hebrew from his father, Jacob Steinschneider ( 1782; ...
, ''Hebr. Bibl.'' 1865, pp. 1 et seq.;
** idem, ''G.S.'' iii.128 et seq.;
*
Weiss
Weiss or Weiß may refer to:
People
* Weiss (surname), including spelling Weiß
* Weiss Ferdl (1883-1949), German actor
Places
* Mount Weiss, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada
* Weiss Lake, Alabama
* Weiß (Sieg), a river in North Rhine-West ...
, ''Dor,'' v.73
References
*
External links
Who Was Isaac of Vienna?by
Dr. Henry Abramson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isaac ben Moses of Vienna
13th-century Austrian rabbis
13th-century Bohemian rabbis
Austrian Orthodox rabbis
Rabbis from Vienna
Czech Orthodox rabbis
1200 births
1270 deaths
Authors of books on Jewish law