Rishonim

A new series by R. Aryeh Leibowitz of Yeshivat Sha’alvim, excerpted from a book available for purchase: here by R. Aryeh Leibowitz The Later Poskim of Germany and E. Europe By the end of the period of the Rishonim, there was a very rich and highly developed tradition of normative German halachic practice. The rulings of the Maharam, his contemporaries ...

A new series by R. Aryeh Leibowitz of Yeshivat Sha’alvim, excerpted from a book available for purchase: here by R. Aryeh Leibowitz A few years after the death of R. Peretz, in the year 1306, the Jews of France were stripped of their property and expelled from the entire French kingdom. Although they were allowed to return less than ten ...

A new series by R. Aryeh Leibowitz of Yeshivat Sha’alvim, excerpted from a book available for purchase: here by R. Aryeh Leibowitz The Jewish community in Italy is the oldest of the European communities.[1]Tradition records a small community in Rome after the destruction of the second Beis HaMikdash. In terms of Jewish scholarship, we have records of piyutim written in ...

A new series by R. Aryeh Leibowitz of Yeshivat Sha’alvim, excerpted from a book available for purchase: here by R. Aryeh Leibowitz R. Meir of Rothenburg (מהר”ם מרוטנברג) R. Meir b. Baruch, the Maharam of Rothenburg (d. 1293), was considered the leading Halachic authority of his day in Germany. He studied in Germany under the Or Zarua, but he also ...

A new series by R. Aryeh Leibowitz of Yeshivat Sha’alvim, excerpted from a book available for purchase: here by R. Aryeh Leibowitz During the later period of the rishonim, the French teachings of the Ri’s academy began to make major inroads in German intellectual circles. Until now, the German Talmudists – Rabbeinu Simcha, R. Yoel and his son the Ravyah, ...

A new series by R. Aryeh Leibowitz of Yeshivat Sha’alvim, excerpted from a book available for purchase: here by R. Aryeh Leibowitz The Later Rishonim of England The Jewish community of early medieval England was strongly associated with the community of northern France.[1]In 1066, the Norman (French) King, William I captured England in the battle of Hastings. This united France ...

A new series by R. Aryeh Leibowitz of Yeshivat Sha’alvim, excerpted from a book available for purchase: here by R. Aryeh Leibowitz   R. Moshe of Coucy (סמ”ג, ר’ משה מקוצי) R. Moshe (d. 1260) was a student of R. Yehuda of Paris and a contemporary of R. Yechiel. He too participated in the Paris disputation of the Talmud. R. ...

A new series by R. Aryeh Leibowitz of Yeshivat Sha’alvim, excerpted from a book available for purchase: here by R. Aryeh Leibowitz In the later period of the Rishonim, Jewish scholarship in France and Germany continued to flourish; but so did anti-Jewish persecution. Throughout the period, the Jewish communities in Ashkenaz were bastions of Torah study and piety, but they ...

R. Nissim b. Reuven (Ran, d. 1376) The Ran, also known as the Ranbar (רנב”ר), was originally from Gerona but flourished in the city of Barcelona. He studied under his father and R. Peretz Ha-Cohen (d. 1370), a Provencal scholar who moved to Barcelona. The Ran, like the Ritva and Rashba before him, eventually became the leading Catalonian scholar of ...

by R. Aryeh Leibowitz, author of the recently published The Neshamah: A Study of the Human Soul R. Aharon ha-Levi (Ra’ah, d. c.1300) R. Aharon of Barcelona, known as the Ra’ah, was born in Girona, but spent most of his life in Barcelona. He was a descendent of R. Zerachiah ha-Levi, the Ba’al Ha-Meor, and was one of the most illustrious ...