''Rabbeinu'' Meshullam son of Jacob (or ''Meshullam HaKohen ben Ya'akov'') also known as ''Rabbeinu Meshullam hagodol'' (Rabbi Meshullem the great) was a
Franco-Jewish Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
ist of the twelfth century CE.
[Heinrich Graetz History of the Jews - Page 113] He led a Talmudic
Yeshiva
A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...
in
Lunel which produced several famous scholars, and was an intimate friend of
Abraham ben Isaac, ''Av
beth din
A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...
'' of
Narbonne
Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in France, commune in Southern France in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. It lies from Paris in the Aude Departments of Franc ...
, who addressed to him several
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 ...
, and spoke of him in high terms. His Talmudic decisions are quoted in ''
Sefer ha-Terumot
Samuel ben Isaac Ha-Sardi (Hebrew: שמואל בן יצחק סרדי) was a Spanish rabbi who flourished in the first half of the 13th century. In his youth he attended the school of Rabbi Nathan ben Meir of Trinquetaille, Provence, and later he r ...
.''
He was interested also in philosophy. According to R'
Yehudah ibn Tibbon, whom he encouraged to translate
Bahya ibn Paquda's ''Al-Hidayah ila Fara'id al-Qulub'' (
Chovot ha-Levavot
''Chovot HaLevavot'', or ''Ḥobot HaLebabot'' (; he, חובות הלבבות; English: ''Duties of the Hearts''), is the primary work of the Jewish rabbi, Bahya ibn Paquda, full name ''Bahya ben Joseph ibn Pakuda''. Rabbi Ibn Paquda is believed ...
) into Hebrew, he wrote several works dealing with moral
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
, advised and assisted other Jewish writers, and possessed a large library. R' Yehudah Ibn Tibbon never wearied of praising R' Meshullam's zeal in investigating the various branches of knowledge.
R' Meshullam was the father of the renowned R'
Asher ben Meshullam Rabbeinu Asher ben Meshullam was a Jewish theologian and Talmudic scholar who lived at Lunel in the second half of the 12th century CE.Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion - Page 74) A renowned Talmudist, he was a son of the well-known R' Meshu ...
HaKohen. R' Meshullam's disciples include the
Raavad
Abraham ben David ( – 27 November 1198), also known by the abbreviation RABaD (for ''Rabbeinu'' Abraham ben David) Ravad or RABaD III, was a Provençal rabbi, a great commentator on the Talmud, ''Sefer Halachot'' of Rabbi Yitzhak Alfasi and '' ...
and the ''
Baal Hama'or''. R' Meshullam died in
Lunel in 1170.
Resources
* which cites:
:*
Henri Gross
Heinrich Gross, writing also as Henri Gross (born Szenicz, Hungarian Kingdom, now Senica, Slovakia, 6 November 1835; died 1910), was a German rabbi. He was a pupil in rabbinical literature of Judah Aszod.
After graduating from the Breslau semin ...
, ''Gallia Judaica'', p. 229.
*Gitlitz, David M. & Linda Kay Davidson. “Pilgrimage and the Jews’’ (Westport: CT: Praeger, 2006), 43-.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meshullam Ben Jacob
1170 deaths
12th-century French rabbis
French Orthodox rabbis
People from Lunel
Year of birth unknown