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Aaron ben Isaac Sason was an Ottoman author and Talmudist; born in Constantinople in 1629. He was a grandson of Aaron ben Joseph Sason, an eminent Talmudist, and cousin of Ḥayyim Benveniste, the famous scholar. Aaron Cupino, rabbi of Constantinople, was his teacher in Talmudic lore, and was so successful that at the age of twenty his pupil engaged in Talmudic controversies with Moses Benveniste, who thought them worthy of publication. A Palestinian commentator Judah Rozanes referred with respect to an unpublished work, "Hen Yeshallaḥ," by R. Aaron. Whether the work "Sefat Emet" should be credited to R. Aaron or to his grandfather, Aaron ben Joseph, is uncertain. The latter is more probably its author. Shabbethai Bass, the only writer who mentions that particular book, in his "Sifte Yeshenim," throws no light on this question, merely mentioning that it is by Aaron Sason.
Aaron ben Joseph ha-Levi was a Sephardic Jew who was a Talmudist and critic; a direct descendant of Zerahiah Ha-Levi, and probably, like him, a native of Girona, Spain; flourished at the end of the thirteenth century; died before 1303. About the middle of the thirteenth century he studied under Naḥmanides, at Girona, where he also met, as a fellow pupil, Solomon ben Adret, who later came to be his opponent. Aaron especially mentions among his teachers his brother Phinehas, and his nephew Isaac, the son of his brother Benveniste. His life appears to have been spent in Spain. In 1285 he was rabbi in Saragossa, where he was so highly respected that Nissim ben Reuben, in 1350, did not dare to annul a decision given by Aaron to a community in that city, even though he considered it illegal. About 1291 Aaron lived for a short time in Toledo. The assertion of some modern historians that, when advanced in age, he emigrated to Provence, is based on a misunderstanding of Meiri, where the correct reading is instead of, and instead of.
Aaron ha-Levi of Barcelona was a Spanish Talmudist of the end of the thirteenth century; author of the first book of religious instruction among the Jews of the Middle Ages. Though his work the Sefer ha-Chinuch was well known, having been repeatedly commented on and republished in more than a dozen editions, it was reserved for Rosin to discover anything accurate concerning the personality of the author. The book itself is anonymous; and the statement by Gedaliah ibn Yaḥyah, that its author was the celebrated Talmudist Aaron ben Joseph ha-Levi, has been generally accepted. It is now, however, certain that the author was a Spanish instructor of youth, of modest position, one who had contented himself with but the faintest allusion to his own identity in symbolically applying to himself the verse Mal. ii. 5, at the end of the prefatory letter to the book; in an old Midrash this verse is referred to Aaron. He lays no claim to original research. The book was simply intended to impart to Jewish youth a knowledge of the Law, and to present in simple form the principles of Judaism to the unlearned layman. The writer seems to have had this lay-public always before him; and his work is in this respect different from that of his predecessors, Maimonides, Naḥmanides, and Moses of Coucy, from whose works he liberally draws. The Sefer ha-Chinuch is an enumeration of the six hundred and thirteen affirmative and negative precepts of the Mosaic Law, arranged in the order of the weekly lessons (parashot), with their ethical and halakic aspects, based upon rabbinical tradition of the Talmudic and post-Talmudic periods, for which latter feature he relies upon Alfasi, Maimonides, and Naḥmanides as main authorities. His chief and original merit is displayed in the ingenuity and religious fervor with which he dwells upon the ethical side of the Law, avoiding most admirably all abstruse philosophical and mystical theories, such as are only too abundant in his guides, Maimonides and Naḥmanides. The following are some specimens of his method. Upon the precept concerning the treading ox the Sefer ha-Chinuch remarks:
"It is the duty of man to accustom himself to show kindness, compassion, and consideration to his fellow creatures. When we therefore treat considerately even the animals given for our use, and withdraw not from them some of the fruits of what their labor obtains for us, we educate our soul thereby to be all the kinder to our fellow men, and accustom ourselves not to withhold from them what is their due, but to allow them to enjoy with us the result of that to which they have contributed".
Rabbi Judah Gedalia was a Portuguese Sephardi Jew who was a rabbinic scholar and a printer. Born in Lisbon in the 15th century, he moved to Salonica after the expulsion. Gedalia died about 1526 in Salonica. His printing press was continued by his children and produced some thirty works.
Ḥayyim ben Shabbethai, commonly known by the acronym Maharhash was a Sephardic rabbi and Talmudist, who is considered to be one of the great sages of Greek Jewry, serving as the Chief Rabbi of Thessaloniki, Greece.
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Ginzberg, Louis (1901). "Aaron ben Joseph Sason". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia . Vol. 1. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 15.