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Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writing, and thus corresponds with the Hebrew term Sifrut Chazal. This more specific sense of "Rabbinic literature"—referring to the Talmudim, Midrash, and related writings, but hardly ever to later texts—is how the term is generally intended when used in contemporary academic writing. The terms mefareshim and parshanim (commentaries/commentators) almost always refer to later, post-Talmudic writers of rabbinic glosses on Biblical and Talmudic texts.
Obadiah ben Abraham of Bertinoro, commonly known as "The Bartenura", was a 15th-century Italian rabbi best known for his popular commentary on the Mishnah. In his later years, he rejuvenated the Jewish community of Jerusalem and became recognised as the spiritual leader of the Jews of his generation.
Elijah Mizrachi was a Talmudist and posek, an authority on Halakha, and a mathematician. He is best known for his Sefer ha-Mizrachi, a supercommentary on Rashi's commentary on the Torah. He is also known as Re'em, the Hebrew acronym for "Rabbi Elijah Mizrachi", coinciding with the Biblical name of an animal, sometimes translated as "unicorn".
Tobiah ben Eliezer was a Talmudist and poet of the 11th century, author of Lekach Tov or Pesikta Zutarta, a midrashic commentary on the Pentateuch and the Five Megillot.
David ben Naphtali Fränkel or David Hirschel Fränkel, was a German rabbi.
Jeshua ben Judah was a Karaite scholar, exegete and philosopher, who lived in eleventh-century Iraq or at Jerusalem.
Aaron ben Joseph of Constantinople, was an eminent teacher, philosopher, physician, and liturgical poet in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
Joseph ben Abraham was a Karaite philosopher and theologian who flourished in Babylonia or Persia in the first half of the eleventh century. He was the teacher of, among others, Jeshua ben Judah. By way of euphemism he was surnamed "ha-Ro'eh", on account of his blindness. This infirmity, however, did not prevent him from undertaking long journeys, likely as a Karaite missionary. In the course of his travels he frequented the religio-philosophical schools of the Mu'tazili, whose teachings he defended in his works. Of these the most important is the Muhtawi, translated from the Arabic into Hebrew, perhaps by Tobiah ben Moses, under the title Sefer ha-Ne'imot, or Zikron ha-Datot. It is divided into forty chapters, in which all the main principles of the Mu'tazili kalam are applied to the Karaite dogmas: the five principles of the unity of God; the necessity of admitting atoms and accidents; the existence of a Creator; the necessity of admitting certain attributes and rejecting others; God's justice and its relation to free will; reward and punishment; etc. The author often argues against the Christians, the Dualists, the Magians, the Epicureans, and various other sects, with whose tenets he shows himself well acquainted. He cites the founders of the Mu'tazili sects of al-Jabaiyah and al-Bahshamiyyah, Abu Ali Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab al-Jabai, and his son Hashim Abd al-Salam, whose teachings he closely follows. The Muhtawi is still extant in manuscript, both in the Arabic original and in its Hebrew translation; the former in the David Kaufmann Library, the latter in the libraries of Leiden, Paris, and St. Petersburg.
Levi ben Japheth, born Abu Said al-Lawi ibn Hasan al-Basri was a prominent Jewish Karaite scholar who flourished in the first half of the 11th-century CE probably at Jerusalem or Ramleh. He is the author of Kitab an-Ni'ma, which is the earliest known Karaite compendium of Mu'tazilite thought.
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Yom-Tov Lipmann ben Solomon Muhlhausen was a controversial Talmudist, kabalist and philosopher of the 14th and 15th centuries. His religious and scholarly career and influence spanned the Jewish communities of Bohemia, Poland, Austria and various parts of Germany, and his dispute with the principles of Christianity left a lasting imprint on the relations between Christianity and Judaism.
Naphtali Hirsch ben Eliezer Treves was a kabalist and Rabbinic scholar of the 16th century who officiated as Hazzan and rabbinic judge in Frankfort-on-the-Main. He was the author of Mala Ha'aretz Deah (1560), a famous cabalistic commentary on the Siddur (prayer-book), printed at Thüngen by his son Rav Eliezer Treves, Chief Rabbi of Frankfurt, and also of Naftule Elokim, an index to Bahya ben Asher's commentary on the Pentateuch. The preface to the Naftule Elokim consists partly of the result of private studies and partly of quotations from other cabalistic works. Treves also wrote, a supercommentary on Rashi, which is still extant. Naphtali Hirz engaged in disputations with Christian scholars, and he made comments on the pronunciation of German language. He is especially important for his accounts of Jewish customs and ceremonies.
Felix Pratensis was a Sephardic Jewish scholar who embraced Roman Catholicism. He is known for his collaboration with the Flemish printer Daniel Bomberg on the first printed Hebrew Biblia Rabbinica (Veneta) of 1517/8.
Caleb Afendopolo was a Jewish polyhistor. He was the brother of Samuel ha-Ramati, ḥakam of the Karaite congregations in Constantinople and of Judah Bali, brother-in-law and disciple of Elijah Bashyatzi.
Moses ibn Tibbon was a Jewish physician, author and translator in Provence. The number of works written by Moses ibn Tibbon suggest that he reached a great age.
Jewish printers were quick to take advantages of the printing press in publishing the Hebrew Bible. While for synagogue services written scrolls were used, the printing press was very soon called into service to provide copies of the Hebrew Bible for private use. All the editions published before the Complutensian Polyglot were edited by Jews; but afterwards, and because of the increased interest excited in the Bible by the Reformation, the work was taken up by Christian scholars and printers; and the editions published by Jews after this time were largely influenced by these Christian publications. It is not possible in the present article to enumerate all the editions, whole or partial, of the Hebrew text. This account is devoted mainly to the incunabula.
Kalonymos or Kalonymus is a prominent Jewish family who lived in Italy, mostly in Lucca and in Rome, which, after the settlement at Mainz and Speyer of several of its members, took during many generations a leading part in the development of Jewish learning in Germany. The family is according to many considered the foundation of Hachmei Provence and the Ashkenazi Hasidim.
Aaron ben Moses Teomim was a Czech-Polish rabbinical scholar; born about 1630, probably in Prague, where the Teomim-Fränkel family, from Vienna, had settled; died in Chmielnik, Poland, July 8, 1690. In 1670 he was called as rabbi to Worms, where he succeeded Moses Samson Bacharach. Prior to this he had been a preacher at Prague. In a serious illness which overcame him on Passover evening, 1675 he vowed he would write a commentary on the Haggadah if he should be restored to health. On his recovery he published this commentary under the title "Maṭṭeh Aharon", Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1678. Another work, "Bigde Aharon", homilies on the Pentateuch, was published after the author's death at Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1710. His "Glosses on Shulḥan 'Aruk, Ḥoshen Mishpaṭ" remained in manuscript. Responsa of his are found in the collections of Yair Bacharach, "Ḥawwot Yair," and in those of Eliakim Goetz b. Meir of Hildesheim, "Eben ha-Shoham." In 1677 Aaron received a call to Lissa in Poland, which he declined; but in 1690 he accepted a call to the rabbinical seat of Cracow. He was there but three months when a Polish nobleman, probably in order to blackmail the congregation, ordered his arrest in Chmelnik, whither he had gone to attend the congregational Meeting of the Four Lands. On Sabbath, July 8, 1690, he was arrested, placed on horseback, and hurried to prison. He fell off the horse several times and was as often remounted. Before the jail was reached he had died of fright and ill-treatment. He was buried at Pintchov.
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Joseph Loeb Sossnitz and Kaufmann Kohler (1901–1906). "Aaron ben Gershon Abu Al-Rabi of Catania". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
- Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
- Michael, Or ha-Ḥayyim, No. 281;
- J. Perles' article, Aaron Gershon Abulrabi in Rev. Ét. Juives, xxi. 246-269;
- Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS. No. 2245;
- Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. d. Juden in Rom, ii. 68. For correct reading of name, see Jew. Quart. Rev. xi. 609.J. L. S.K.
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