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The Tosafot, Tosafos or Tosfot ( he, תוספות) are
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
commentaries on the
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 ...
. They take the form of critical and explanatory glosses, printed, in almost all Talmud editions, on the outer margin and opposite
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...
's notes.
The authors of the Tosafot are known as Tosafists ( ''Ba'ale haTosafot''); for a listing see ''
List of Tosafists
Tosafists were rabbis of France and Germany, who lived from the 12th to the mid-15th centuries, in the period of Rishonim. The Tosafists composed critical and explanatory glosses (questions, notes, interpretations, rulings and sources) on the Tal ...
''.
Meaning of name
The word ''tosafot'' literally means "additions". The reason for the title is a matter of dispute among modern scholars.
Many of them, including
Heinrich Graetz
Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was amongst the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective.
Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (now Książ Wielkopo ...
, think the glosses are so-called as additions to
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...
's commentary on the Talmud. In fact, the period of the Tosafot began immediately after Rashi had written his commentary; the first tosafists were Rashi's sons-in-law and grandsons, and the Tosafot consist mainly of strictures on Rashi's commentary.
Others, especially
Isaac Hirsch Weiss
Isaac (Isaak) Hirsch Weiss, also Eisik Hirsch Weiss () (9 February 1815 – 1 June 1905), was an Austrian Talmudist and historian of literature born at Groß Meseritsch, Habsburg Moravia.
After having received elementary instruction in Hebrew ...
, object that many tosafot — particularly those of
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 ...
— have no reference to Rashi. Weiss, followed by other scholars, asserts that ''tosafot'' means additions to ''the Talmud'', that is to say, they are an extension and development of the Talmud. For just as the
Gemara
The Gemara (also transliterated Gemarah, or in Yiddish Gemo(r)re; from Aramaic , from the Semitic root ג-מ-ר ''gamar'', to finish or complete) is the component of the Talmud comprising rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah w ...
is a critical and analytical commentary on the
Mishnah
The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...
, so are the Tosafot critical and analytical glosses on those two parts of the Talmud. Further, the term ''tosafot'' was not applied for the first time to the glosses of Rashi's continuators, but to the
Tosefta
The Tosefta (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תוספתא "supplement, addition") is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah.
Overview
In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah ( ...
, the additions to the
Mishnah
The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...
compiled by
Judah ha-Nasi
Judah ha-Nasi ( he, יְהוּדָה הַנָּשִׂיא, ''Yəhūḏā hanNāsīʾ''; Yehudah HaNasi or Judah the Prince) or Judah I, was a second-century rabbi (a tanna of the fifth generation) and chief redactor and editor of the ''Mi ...
I. ''Tosefta'' is a
Babylon
''Bābili(m)''
* sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠
* arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel''
* syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel''
* grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn''
* he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel''
* peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru''
* elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
ian term, which in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
writings is replaced by ''tosafot''. The Tosafot resemble the
Gemara
The Gemara (also transliterated Gemarah, or in Yiddish Gemo(r)re; from Aramaic , from the Semitic root ג-מ-ר ''gamar'', to finish or complete) is the component of the Talmud comprising rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah w ...
in other respects also, for just as the latter is the work of different schools carried on through a long period, so the former were written at different times and by different schools, and gathered later into one body.
Character
Up to and including Rashi, the Talmudic commentators occupied themselves only with the plain meaning ("peshaṭ") of the text; but after the beginning of the twelfth century the spirit of criticism took possession of the teachers of the Talmud. Thus some of Rashi's continuators, as his sons-in-law and his grandson
Samuel ben Meïr
Samuel ben Meir ( Troyes, c. 1085 – c. 1158), after his death known as "Rashbam", a Hebrew acronym for RAbbi SHmuel Ben Meir, was a leading French Tosafist and grandson of Shlomo Yitzhaki, "Rashi".
Biography
He was born in the vicinity of Tro ...
(RaSHBaM), while they wrote commentaries on the Talmud after the manner of Rashi's, wrote also glosses on it in a style peculiar to themselves.
The Tosafot do not constitute a continuous commentary, but rather (like the "Dissensiones" to the
Roman Code of the first quarter of the twelfth century) deal only with difficult passages of the Talmud.
[ Se]
''Kuntres Eitz HaChayim'' ch 28
for discussion of the interrelation between Rashi and Tosafot Single sentences are explained by quotations which are taken from other Talmudic treatises and which seem at first glance to have no connection with the sentences in question. On the other hand, sentences which seem to be related and interdependent are separated and embodied in different treatises. The Tosafot can be understood only by those who are well advanced in the study of the Talmud, for the most entangled discussions are treated as though they were simple. Glosses explaining the meaning of a word or containing a
grammatical
In linguistics, grammaticality is determined by the conformity to language usage as derived by the grammar of a particular variety (linguistics), speech variety. The notion of grammaticality rose alongside the theory of generative grammar, the go ...
observation are very rare.
The Tosafot may be considered from the point of view of a methodology of the Talmud. The rules are certainly not gathered together in one series, as they are, for instance, in
Maimonides
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...
' introduction to the Mishnah; they are scattered in various parts, and their number is quite considerable. Neither are they stated in fixed terms; a generally accepted rule is followed by "This is the way of the Talmud" or "The Talmud usually declares." Sometimes the negative expression is found, "This is not the way of the Talmud." A frequently recurring rule is indicated by some such formula as "We find many like this."
The above description concerns the general features of the Tosafot; nevertheless, the writings of different tosafists differ somewhat in style and method. With regard to method, it should be said that the
Tosafot of Touques
The Tosafot, Tosafos or Tosfot ( he, תוספות) are medieval commentaries on the Talmud. They take the form of critical and explanatory glosses, printed, in almost all Talmud editions, on the outer margin and opposite Rashi's notes.
The auth ...
(see below) concern particularly the casuistic interpretation of the traditional law, but do not touch halakhic decisions.
In spite of the great respect in which Rashi was held by the Tosafists, the latter freely disputed his explanations;
see .
History
The chief home of tosafot literature was France. It began with Rashi's pupils, and was continued mainly by the heads of the French schools. While tosafot began to be written in Germany at the same time as in France, the French tosafists always predominated numerically. The first tosafot recorded are those written by Rashi's two sons-in-law,
Meïr b. Samuel of Ramerupt (RaM) and
Judah ben Nathan Judah ben Nathan, also referred to by the Hebrew acronym RIBaN, was a gifted French rabbi and commentator on the Talmud in the eleventh to twelfth century, best known for being the son-in-law and pupil of the great commentator Rashi, and to a great ...
(RIBaN), and by a certain R. Joseph. But their tosafot not being otherwise known, the actual father of the tosafot in France was Jacob b. Meir, known colloquially as
Rabbeinu Tam
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 gra ...
, whose style was adopted by his successors. He wrote a great number of tosafot, many of which are to be found in his "Sefer ha-Yashar"; but not all, as many passages that are cited in the edited tosafot are not found in the work just mentioned. In Germany, at the same time, flourished
Isaac ben Asher ha-Levi Rabbi Isaac ben Asher HaLevi or Riba (ריב"א) is the earliest known Tosafist, son-in-law of Eliakim ben Meshullam and pupil of Rashi. He flourished in Speyer during the 11th century.
He is cited under the name of "Tosafot Riba," in the ''Temim ...
(RIBA), leader of the German tosafists, who wrote numerous tosafot, which are mentioned by
Abraham ben David
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 which are very often cited in the edited tosafot. But Isaac ben Asher's tosafot were revised by his pupils, who, according to Rabbeinu Tam, sometimes ascribed to their teacher opinions which were not his.
Zedekiah ben Abraham
Zedekiah ben Abraham Anaw (13th century; also known by the surname HaRofeh) was an author of halakhic works and younger brother of Benjamin ben Abraham Anaw. He lived at Rome and received his Talmudic training not only in Rome but also in Germany ...
, however, refutes Rabbeinu Tam's assertion.
The most prominent tosafist immediately after Rabbeinu Tam was his pupil and relative
Isaac ben Samuel ha-Zaḳen
Isaac ben Samuel the Elder (c. 1115 – c. 1184), also known as the Ri ha-Zaken (Hebrew: ר"י הזקן), was a French tosafist and Biblical commentator. He flourished at Ramerupt and Dampierre, France in the twelfth century. He is the father of ...
(RI) of Dampierre, whose tosafot form a part of the Tosafot Yeshanim (see below). Isaac was succeeded by his pupil
Samson ben Abraham of Sens Samson ben Abraham of Sens (שמשון בן אברהם משאנץ; c. 1150 – c. 1230),was one of the leading French Tosafists in the second half of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th centuries. He was the most outstanding student and the s ...
(R"SH) (d. about 1235), who, besides enriching the literature with his own compositions, revised those of his predecessors, especially his teacher's, and compiled them into the group known as the
Tosafot of Sens
The Tosafot, Tosafos or Tosfot ( he, תוספות) are medieval commentaries on the Talmud. They take the form of critical and explanatory glosses, printed, in almost all Talmud editions, on the outer margin and opposite Rashi's notes.
The auth ...
. Samson's fellow pupil
Judah b. Isaac of Paris (Sir Leon) was also very active; he wrote tosafot to several Talmudic treatises, of which those to Berakhot were published at Warsaw (1863); some of those to 'Abodah Zarah are extant in manuscript. Among the many French tosafists deserving special mention was
Samuel ben Solomon of Falaise
Samuel ben Solomon of Falaise was a French rabbi, a tosafist of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. His French name was Sir Morel, by which he is often designated in rabbinical literature.
He was a pupil of Judah Sir Leon of Paris and of Isaac ...
(Sir Morel), who, owing to the destruction of the Talmud in France in his time, relied for the text entirely upon his memory.
The edited tosafot owe their existence particularly to Samson of Sens and to the following French tosafists of the thirteenth century: (1)
Moses of Évreux, (2)
Eliezer of Touques Eliezer (ben Solomon) of Touques was a French tosafist, who lived at Touques in the second half of the thirteenth century. He abridged the tosafot of Samson of Sens, Samuel of Évreux, and many others, and added thereto marginal notes of his own, ...
, and (3)
Perez ben Elijah Perez ben Elijah of Corbeil (died 1295) was a French tosafist, son of the Talmudist Elijah of Tours. In Talmudic literature he is designated by the abbreviations RaP (= Rabbeinu Perez), RaPaSh (= Rabbeinu Perez, may he live), and MaHaRPaSh (= our m ...
of Corbeil.
It has been said that the first German tosafist, Isaac b. Asher ha-Levi, was the head of a school, and that his pupils, besides composing tosafot of their own, revised his. In the thirteenth century the German schools were represented by
Baruch ben Isaac
Baruch ben Isaac, called usually from Worms or from France (Tzarfat) was born approx. in 1140 and deceased in 1212 in Eretz Israel where he went in 1208 together with his friend Samson ben Abraham of Sens. He is not to be identified with another Ba ...
, in Regensburg, and later by
Meir of Rothenburg
Meir ( he, מֵאִיר) is a Jewish male given name and an occasional surname. It means "one who shines". It is often Germanized as Maier, Mayer, Mayr, Meier, Meyer, Meijer, Italianized as Miagro, or Anglicized as Mayer, Meyer, or Myer.Alfred J. ...
(MaHaRaM); the Italian school was represented by
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 ...
. If the tosafot of
Asher b. Jehiel (RoSH) (d. 1328) are to be included, the tosafistic period extended through more than two centuries. When the fanaticism of the French monasteries and the bigotry of
Louis IX
Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the d ...
brought about the destruction of the Talmud, the writing of tosafot in France soon ceased.
Overview
Each generation of Tosafists would add to the compiled glosses, and therefore there are many different versions of the ''Tosafot''. In addition, each compilation of the ''Tosafos'' did not contain everything that was said by the ''Tosafists'' on the subject so compilations will differ in what they say. Therefore, some things that were said by the ''Tosafists'' will be found only in obscure versions of the ''Tosafot''.
Publication
The final version of these commentaries was published on the outer side of the pages of the Soncino edition of the Talmud, printed in
Soncino, Italy (16th century), and was the first printed edition of the full Talmud. The publisher of that edition was a nephew of Rabbi Moshe of Spires (Shapiro) who was of the last generation of ''Tosafists'' and who initiated a project of writing a final compilation of the ''Tosafos''. Before he published his Talmud he traveled throughout France to the schools where the ''Tosafists'' learned and gathered all of the different manuscripts of that final version of the ''Tosafos'' and printed them in his Talmud. Since then every publication of the Talmud was printed with the ''Tosafos'' on the outer side of the page (the inner side has the commentary of Rashi) and is an integral part of the study of the Talmud.
The burning of the Talmud
During the period of the ''Tosafists'' the church enacted a law that prohibited possession of the Talmud under pain of death and
24 wagon loads of scrolls of the Talmud were gathered from all of France and burned in the center of Paris. The intention of the church was that the study of the Talmud should be forgotten and once forgotten it would remain forgotten for all generations since there would be nobody to teach it. As a result, the ''Tosafists'' devised a system where they could study the Talmud without the existence of a text despite the vastness of the Talmud. They appointed scholars, each to be expert in one of the volumes of the Talmud, to know it by heart and very well, and so through these scholars they would have expertise and knowledge in all of the Talmud. As they would study a particular text in one volume of the Talmud those scholars who were expert in different volumes of the Talmud would tell of anything in the volume of the Talmud that they were expert on that would contradict their understanding of the text at hand. Thus an important aspect of the scholarship of the ''Tosafists'' is to use texts in different areas of the Talmud to disprove certain interpretations of the Talmud (often those of Rashi) and to determine the correct way to understand the Talmud.
Authorities cited
The Tosafot quote principally
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...
(very often under the designation "ḳonṭres"
"pamphlet", Rashi initially published his commentary in pamphlets, many of the ancient authorities (as
Kalonymus of Lucca,
Nathan b. Jehiel, and
R. Hananeel), some contemporary scholars (as
Abraham b. David of Posquières,
Maimonides
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...
,
Abraham ibn Ezra, and others), and about 130 German and French Talmudists of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Many of the last-named are known as authors of general Talmudic works, as, for instance,
Eliezer b. Nathan of Mainz,
Judah of Corbeil, and
Jacob of Coucy; but many of them are known only through their being quoted in the Tosafot, as in the case of an
Eliezer of Sens, a
Jacob of Orleans
Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Jac ...
, and many Abrahams and Isaacs. Some are mentioned just once, including Eliezer of "Pelire"
alaise? Montpellier? Ephraim b. David, and one Hezekiah. A commentary on the Pentateuch entitled "Da'at Zeḳenim" (Leghorn, 1783) is attributed to the Tosafists. In form this commentary follows the style of the Tosafot; Rashi is often discussed, and sometimes corrected.
Schools of Tosafists
Tosafot of Sens
The earliest collection, compiled by
Samson ben Abraham of Sens Samson ben Abraham of Sens (שמשון בן אברהם משאנץ; c. 1150 – c. 1230),was one of the leading French Tosafists in the second half of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th centuries. He was the most outstanding student and the s ...
. It was one of the main sources for the
Tosafot of Touques
The Tosafot, Tosafos or Tosfot ( he, תוספות) are medieval commentaries on the Talmud. They take the form of critical and explanatory glosses, printed, in almost all Talmud editions, on the outer margin and opposite Rashi's notes.
The auth ...
, which in turn underlies the present printed Tosafot ("
Tosafot shelanu"). Passages from the Tosafot of Sens which did not find their way into the main collection are sometimes printed under the title of
Tosafot Yeshanim.
Tosafot of Évreux
Moses of Évreux, one of the most prolific tosafists, furnished glosses to the whole Talmud; they form a distinct group known as the Tosafot of
Évreux
Évreux () is a commune in and the capital of the department of Eure, in the French region of Normandy.
Geography
The city is on the Iton river.
Climate
History
In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named ...
. It may be presumed that the "Tosafot of R. Moses" mentioned by
Mordechai ben Hillel Mordechai ben Hillel HaKohen ( he, "המָּרְדֳּכַי" ,רבי מרדכי בן הלל הכהן; c. 1250–1298), also known as The Mordechai, was a 13th-century German rabbi and posek. His chief legal commentary on the Talmud, referred to as ...
are identical with the tosafot just mentioned. According to
Joseph Colon
Joseph Colon ben Solomon Trabotto, also known as Maharik, (c. 1420 in Chambéry – Pavia in 1480) was a 15th-century rabbi who is considered Italy's foremost Judaic scholar and Talmudist of his era.
Early years
Colon (whose name is related t ...
and
Elijah Mizraḥi, Moses wrote his glosses on the margin of
Isaac Alfasi
Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi ha-Cohen (1013–1103) ( ar, إسحاق الفاسي, he, ר' יצחק אלפסי) - also known as the Alfasi or by his Hebrew acronym Rif (Rabbi Isaac al-Fasi), was a Maghrebi Talmudist and posek (decider in matters of hal ...
's "Halakhot," probably at the time of the burning of the Talmud.
Tosafot of Touques
Eliezer of Touques Eliezer (ben Solomon) of Touques was a French tosafist, who lived at Touques in the second half of the thirteenth century. He abridged the tosafot of Samson of Sens, Samuel of Évreux, and many others, and added thereto marginal notes of his own, ...
, of the second half of the thirteenth century, made a compendium of the Tosafot of Sens and of Évreux; this compendium is called the Tosafot of Touques, and forms the basis of the edited tosafot. Eliezer's own glosses, written on the margin, are known as the Tosafot Gillayon or Gilyon Tosafot. It must be premised, however, that the Tosafot of Touques did not remain untouched; they were revised afterward and supplemented by the glosses of later tosafists. Gershon Soncino, who printed these tosafot, declares that his ancestor Moses of Fürth, who lived in the middle of the fifteenth century, was a descendant in the fifth generation of Moses of Speyer, who is mentioned in the Tosafot of Touques. It is supposed that the last redactor of these tosafot was a pupil of Samson of Chinon.
Tosafot of Perez ben Elijah's Pupils
Perez ben Elijah Perez ben Elijah of Corbeil (died 1295) was a French tosafist, son of the Talmudist Elijah of Tours. In Talmudic literature he is designated by the abbreviations RaP (= Rabbeinu Perez), RaPaSh (= Rabbeinu Perez, may he live), and MaHaRPaSh (= our m ...
of Corbeil was one of the most active of the later tosafists. Besides supplying tosafot to several treatises, which are quoted by many old authorities and are included among the edited tosafot (and many of which were seen in manuscript by Azulai), he revised those of his predecessors. His pupils were not less active; their additions are known as the Tosafot of Perez b. Elijah's Pupils.
Other bodies of tosafot
French Tosafot
Mentioned in the novellae on Tamid ascribed to
Abraham b. David. Zunz thinks that the Tosafot of Sens may be referred to under this title; but the fact that Abraham b. David was much earlier than Samson of Sens leads to the supposition that the glosses indicated are those of previous tosafists, as Rabbeinu Tam, Isaac b. Asher ha-Levi, and Isaac b. Samuel ha-Zaḳen and his son.
Pisḳe Tosafot ("Decisions of the Tosafot")
Collection of halakic decisions gathered from the edited tosafot to thirty-six treatises—''Nazir'' and ''Me'ilah'' being excepted—and generally printed in the margin of the Tosafot; in the later editions of the Talmud, after the text. These decisions number 5,931; of these 2,009 belong to the tractate''Berakot'' and the order ''Mo'ed''; 1,398 to ''Niddah'' and the order ''Nashim''; 1,503 to ''Neziḳin''; and 1,021 to ''Ḳodashim''. The decisions contained in the tosafot to ''Shabbat'', ''Pesaḥim'', ''Giṭṭin'', ''Ketubot'', ''Baba Ḳamma'', ''Baba Meẓi'a'', ''Baba Batra'', and ''Ḥullin'' number fully one-half of those recognized as authoritative. The compiler of these decisions can not be identified with certainty;
Asher b. Jehiel, his son
Jacob b. Asher, and Ezekiel, uncle of
Eliezer of Touques Eliezer (ben Solomon) of Touques was a French tosafist, who lived at Touques in the second half of the thirteenth century. He abridged the tosafot of Samson of Sens, Samuel of Évreux, and many others, and added thereto marginal notes of his own, ...
, are given by different authorities.
Jacob Nordhausen, also, is known to have compiled tosafot decisions; in fact, references to two groups of ''Pisḳe Tosafot'' are found in the works of the later commentators.
Spanish Tosafot
This term is used by
Joseph Colon
Joseph Colon ben Solomon Trabotto, also known as Maharik, (c. 1420 in Chambéry – Pavia in 1480) was a 15th-century rabbi who is considered Italy's foremost Judaic scholar and Talmudist of his era.
Early years
Colon (whose name is related t ...
and by
Jacob Baruch Landau and may apply to Talmudic novellae by Spanish authors.
Jeshuah b. Joseph ha-Levi, for instance, applies the term "tosafot" to the novellae of
Isaac ben Sheshet
Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet (or Barfat) (1326–1408) ( he, יצחק בן ששת) was a Spanish Talmudic authority, also known by his acronym, Rivash (). He was born at Valencia and settled early in life at Barcelona, where he studied at the scho ...
.
The Edited Tosafot (called also Our Tosafot)
The tosafot which have been published with the text of the Talmud ever since its earliest edition (see
Talmud, Editions of). They extend to thirty-eight treatises of the Babylonian Talmud. Most of the treatises are covered by the Tosafot of Touques, some by the Tosafot of Sens; many are provided with the tosafot of various authors, revised by Perez b. Elijah's school. The authorship of the tosafot to seventeen treatises only can be established with certainty:
* ''Berakot'':
Moses of Évreux;
* ''Shabbat'', '' 'Erubin'', and ''Menaḥot'': the Tosafot of Sens;
* ''Beẓah'', ''Nedarim'', ''Nazir'', ''Sanhedrin'', ''Makkot'', and ''Me'ilah'':
Perez b. Elijah's school (many written by Perez himself);
* ''Yoma'':
Meïr of Rothenburg;
* ''Giṭṭin'', ''Baba Ḳamma'', and ''Ḥullin'': the Tosafot of Touques;
* ''Soṭah'':
Samuel of Évreux Samuel of Évreux was a French tosafist of the thirteenth century, the younger brother and student of Moses of Évreux, author of the tosafot of Évreux. He is identified by Gross with Samuel ben Shneor (not ben Yom-Ṭov, as given by Zunz in ''Z. ...
;
* '' 'Avodah Zarah'':
Samuel of Falaise
Samuel ben Solomon of Falaise was a French rabbi, a tosafist of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. His French name was Sir Morel, by which he is often designated in rabbinical literature.
He was a pupil of Judah Sir Leon of Paris and of Isaac b ...
;
* ''Zebaḥim'':
Baruch b. Isaac of Worms.
The tosafot to ''Mo'ed Ḳaṭon'' were written by a pupil of a certain R. Isaac; the author of the tosafot to ''Ḥagigah'' wrote tosafot to other treatises also. Those to ''Ta'anit'' belong to the post-tosafot period, and differ in style from those to other treatises.
Tosafot Alfasi
Quoted by
Joseph Colon
Joseph Colon ben Solomon Trabotto, also known as Maharik, (c. 1420 in Chambéry – Pavia in 1480) was a 15th-century rabbi who is considered Italy's foremost Judaic scholar and Talmudist of his era.
Early years
Colon (whose name is related t ...
(Responsa, Nos. 5, 31) and
Judah Minz
Judah ben Eliezer ha-Levi Minz (c. 1405 – 1508), also known as Mahari Minz, was the most prominent Italian rabbi of his time. As his surname suggests, he immigrated around 1462 from Mainz to Italy. He officiated as rabbi of Padua for forty-seven ...
(Responsa, No. 10). The term may designate either the tosafot of
Samuel b. Meïr and
Moses of Évreux, or glosses to
Alfasi's ''Halakot''.
Tosafot of Gornish
Mentioned by
Joseph Solomon Delmedigo
Joseph Solomon Delmedigo (or Del Medigo), also known as Yashar Mi-Qandia ( he, יש"ר מקנדיא) (16 June 1591 – 16 October 1655), was a rabbi, author, physician, mathematician, and music theorist.
Born in Candia, Crete, a descendant of ...
and
Solomon Algazi
Solomon Nissim Algazi (1610c. 1683) was rabbi in Smyrna and in Jerusalem in the 17th century. He was a prolific writer on all topics of rabbinical literature, and won distinction by his treatment of Talmudic hermeneutics and methodology.
His atte ...
, the latter quoting these tosafot to
Bava kamma
Bava Kamma ( tmr, בָּבָא קַמָּא, translit=Bāḇā Qammā, translation=The First Gate) is the first of a series of three Talmudic tractates in the order Nezikin ("Damages") that deal with civil matters such as damages and torts. The o ...
. But as the same quotation is made by
Betzalel Ashkenazi
Bezalel ben Abraham Ashkenazi ( he, בצלאל בן אברהם אשכנזי) ( 1520 – 1592) was a rabbi and talmudist who lived in Ottoman Israel during the 16th century. He is best known as the author of ''Shitah Mekubetzet'', a commentary on ...
and ascribed to a pupil of
Perez ben Elijah Perez ben Elijah of Corbeil (died 1295) was a French tosafist, son of the Talmudist Elijah of Tours. In Talmudic literature he is designated by the abbreviations RaP (= Rabbeinu Perez), RaPaSh (= Rabbeinu Perez, may he live), and MaHaRPaSh (= our m ...
,
Azulai concludes that these tosafot originated in Perez b. Elijah's school. Still,
Mordecai ben Hillel Mordechai ben Hillel HaKohen ( he, "המָּרְדֳּכַי" ,רבי מרדכי בן הלל הכהן; c. 1250–1298), also known as The Mordechai, was a 13th-century German rabbi and posek. His chief legal commentary on the Talmud, referred to as ...
mentions a R. Judah of Gornish, and
Abraham ibn Akra
Abraham ibn Akra or Abraham ben Solomon Akra was a Jewish-Italian scholar and editor of scientific works who lived at the end of the 16th century. He edited the work Me-Harere Nemerim' (Venice, 1599), a collection of several methodological essays ...
reproduces Talmudic novellae by "M. of Gornish" (Embden gives "Meïr of Gornish" in the Latin translation of the catalogue of the Oppenheim Library, No. 667). Manuscript No. 7 of the Günzburg collection bears the superscription "Tosafot of Gornish to Yebamot," and in these tosafot French and German rabbis are quoted. Manuscript No. 603 of the same collection contains also the Tosafot of Gornish and novellae by
Judah Minz
Judah ben Eliezer ha-Levi Minz (c. 1405 – 1508), also known as Mahari Minz, was the most prominent Italian rabbi of his time. As his surname suggests, he immigrated around 1462 from Mainz to Italy. He officiated as rabbi of Padua for forty-seven ...
, and fragments of Gornish tosafot are found in manuscripts in other libraries.
Different theories have been advanced with regard to the name "Gornish." According to
S. Schechter
Solomon Schechter ( he, שניאור זלמן הכהן שכטר; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian-born British-American rabbi, academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the ...
, it is a corruption of "
Mayence
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...
", while H. Adler thinks it a corruption of "Norwich". Gross (l.c.) thinks that Gornish may be identical with Gournay, in France, and that "M. of Gornish," apparently the author of the Tosafot of Gornish, may be Moses of Gornish and identical with the Moses of גריינץ mentioned in the Tosafot of Sens (to
Pesaḥim
Pesachim ( he, פְּסָחִים, lit. "Paschal lambs" or "Passovers"), also spelled Pesahim, is the third tractate of '' Seder Moed'' ("Order of Festivals") of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. The tractate discusses the topics related to the Jew ...
). It may be added that in the supplement to
Zacuto
Abraham Zacuto ( he, , translit=Avraham ben Shmuel Zacut, pt, Abraão ben Samuel Zacuto; 12 August 1452 – ) was a Castilian astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, rabbi and historian who served as Royal Astronomer to King John II of Portugal.
...
's ''Yuḥasin'' a David of "Durnish" occurs.
Tosafot Ḥiẓoniyyot ("Exterior" or "Uncanonical Tosafot")
Tosafot which are neither of Sens nor of Touques. They are so called by
Betzalel Ashkenazi
Bezalel ben Abraham Ashkenazi ( he, בצלאל בן אברהם אשכנזי) ( 1520 – 1592) was a rabbi and talmudist who lived in Ottoman Israel during the 16th century. He is best known as the author of ''Shitah Mekubetzet'', a commentary on ...
; he included many fragments of them in his ''Shitah Mekubetzet'', to ''Bava Metzia'', ''Nazir'', etc.
Tosafot Shiṭṭah (or Shiṭṭah)
Name sometimes applied to the recensions of
Perez b. Elijah or to the tosafot of
Jehiel of Paris.
Tosafot Yeshanim ("Tosafot of the Ancients")
This group comprises four smaller ones: (1) the general tosafot of Sens, including those appearing among the edited tosafot; (2) the earlier unedited tosafot (for example, those to Ḳiddushin by Isaac b. Samuel haZaken of Dampierre, and those to Avodah Zarah by his son
Elhanan ben Isaac); these sometimes appear separately under the title of Tosafot ha-Ri; (3) a collection of old tosafot published by Joseph Jessel b. Wolf ha-Levi in "Sugyot ha-Shas" (Berlin, 1736); (4) various tosafot found in ancient manuscripts, as the tosafot to Chullin written in 1360, the manuscript of which is in the Munich Library (No. 236). In the collection published by Joseph Jessel b. Wolf haLevi (No. 3), besides the old tosafot to Yoma by
Moses of Coucy
Rabbi Moses ben Jacob of Coucy, also known as Moses Mikkotsi ( he, משה בן יעקב מקוצי; la, Moses Kotsensis), was a French people, French tosafists, Tosafist and authority on Halakha (Jewish law). He is best known as the author of one ...
,
[Compare, however, ]Israel Isserlein
Israel Isserlin (ישראל איסרלן; Israel Isserlein ben Petachia; 1390 in Maribor, Duchy of Styria – 1460 in Wiener Neustadt, Lower Austria) was a Talmudist, and Halakhist, best known for his ''Terumat HaDeshen'', which served as one ...
, "Terumat haDeshen," No. 94, who declares they belong to the Tosafot of Sens there are single tosafot to sixteen treatises—Shabbat, Rosh HaShanah, Megillah, Gittin, Bava Metzia, Menaḥot, Bechorot, Eruvin, Beitzah, Ketubot, Kiddushin, Nazir, Bava Batra, Horayot, Keritot, and Niddah. In the
Vilna edition of the Talmud edited by
Romm, the "old tosafot" to several treatises are printed.
Tosafot ha-Rid
By Rabbi
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 ...
.
Tosafot Hachmei Anglia
A small collection of tosafot composed by rabbis from England.
Tosafot ha-Rosh
A commentary in tosafot style, and largely dependent on the earlier tosafot collections, composed by
Asher ben Jehiel
Asher ben Jehiel ( he, אשר בן יחיאל, or Asher ben Yechiel, sometimes Asheri) (1250 or 1259 – 1327) was an eminent rabbi and Talmudist best known for his abstract of Talmudic law. He is often referred to as Rabbenu Asher, “our Rabb ...
.
Bibliography
Tosafot collections
The
Tosafot shelanu are printed in most Talmud editions, in the column farther from the binding. The Vilna edition also includes tosafot from other collections, such as Tosafot Yeshanim, Tosafot ha-Ri and Tosafot ha-Rid on a few tractates. The
Piske Tosafot (decisions of the Tosafot) are printed at the end of each tractate.
Complete sets of the
Tosafot ha-Rosh and the
Tosafot of Rabbi Peretz are published separately, as are individual volumes from the Tosafot Yeshanim and a few others. The most recent editions of the Talmud, such as the Friedmann edition published by Oz vHadar, incorporate these collections at the back of each volume, in a synoptic fashion. Most of the other collections remain in manuscript or in the form of quotations in later works.
Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
*
Chaim Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ii.
*
Isaac Benjacob
Isaac ben Jacob Benjacob (January 10, 1801, Ramygala – July 2, 1863, Vilnius) was a Lithuanian Jewish Maskil, best known as a bibliographer, author, and publisher. His 17-volume Hebrew Bible included Rashi, Mendelssohn, as well as his own '' ...
, Oẓar ha-Sefarim, pp. 621 et seq.
* Buchholz, in Monatsschrift, xxxviii. 342, 398, 450, 559
*
Heinrich Grätz
Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was amongst the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective.
Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (now Książ Wielkopo ...
, Gesch. 3d ed., vi. 143-144, 210; vii. 108-110
*
Gustav Karpeles
Gustav Karpeles (11 November 1848 in Ivanovice na Hané, Margraviate of MoraviaIsaac Hirsch Weiss
Isaac (Isaak) Hirsch Weiss, also Eisik Hirsch Weiss () (9 February 1815 – 1 June 1905), was an Austrian Talmudist and historian of literature born at Groß Meseritsch, Habsburg Moravia.
After having received elementary instruction in Hebrew ...
, Dor, iv. 336-352
* idem, Toledot Rabbenu Tam, pp. 2–4
* Winter and Wünsche, Jüdische Literatur, ii. 465 et seq.
*
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 ...
(the chief source for this article), Zur Geschichte und Literatur (1845), pp. 29 et seq.
Other secondary literature
* Urbach, E. E., ''Ba'alei HaTosafot'' (The Tosafists) (in Hebrew)
* Perlmutter, Haim, ''Tools for Tosafos'', New York 1996, ,
Notes
External links
Page view of Babylonian Talmud, including TosafotJewish Encyclopedia article "Tosafot"English Elucidations of Tosfos on Select TractatesAn English translation of the Tosfos of many books of the Talmud
{{JewishEncyclopedia, article=Tosafot, author=
Joseph Jacobs
Joseph Jacobs (29 August 1854 – 30 January 1916) was an Australian folklorist, translator, literary critic, social scientist, historian and writer of English literature who became a notable collector and publisher of English folklore.
Jacob ...
and
M. Seligsohn Max Seligsohn (April 13, 1865 – April 11, 1923 Manhattan) was an American Orientalist, born in Imperial Russia.
Having received his rabbinical training at Slutsk, government ('' guberniya'') of Minsk, he went in 1888 to New York City, where he s ...
, url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=276&letter=T
Jewish medieval literature
Talmud
Tosafists
Sifrei Kodesh