Asher ben Jehiel was an eminent rabbi and Talmudist best known for his abstract of Talmudic law. He is often referred to as Rabbenu Asher, “our Rabbi Asher” or by the Hebrew acronym for this title, the Rosh. His yahrzeit is on 9 Cheshvan.
The Tosafot, Tosafos or Tosfot 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.
Rishonim were the leading rabbis and poskim who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the Shulchan Aruch and following the Geonim. Rabbinic scholars subsequent to the Shulchan Aruch are generally known as acharonim.
Yitzchak Meir Rotenberg-Alter , was the first Rebbe of the Ger Hasidic dynasty, which he founded in the town of Góra Kalwaria, Poland. He headed the Kupath Rabbi Meir Baal Haness Kollel Polen (Poland) Varsha (Warsaw). He was also known as The Chiddushei HaRim for his Torah writings, and was sometimes fondly called Reb Itche Meir (Yiddish) by his followers.
Joel ben Samuel Sirkis also known as the Bach, was a prominent Ashkenazi posek and halakhist, who lived in Central Europe and held rabbinical positions in Belz, Brest-Litovsk and Kraków, and is considered to be one of the greatest Talmudic scholars of Poland. He is known for his liberal rulings in his responsum in which he challenges the rabbinic status quo.
Rabbi Moses ben Jacob of Coucy, also known as Moses Mikkotsi, was a French Tosafist and authority on Halakha. He is best known as the author of one of the earliest codifications of Halakha, the Sefer Mitzvot Gadol.
Joshua Höschel ben Joseph was a Polish rabbi born in Vilnius, Lithuania about 1578 and died in Kraków on August 16, 1648. In his boyhood, he journeyed to Przemyśl, Red Ruthenia, to study the Talmud under Rabbi Samuel ben Phoebus of Kraków. He returned to his native country and continued his Talmudic studies in the city of Włodzimierz under Rabbi Joshua Falk. After his marriage to the daughter of Rabbi Samuel of Brest-Litovsk, he became rabbi of the city of Grodno, whence he was called to the rabbinate of Tiktin (Tykocin), and later to that of Przemyśl. In 1639 he became rabbi of Lemberg and in the following year, he was appointed head of the yeshiva of Kraków. At Kraków, Joshua devoted all his time to matters pertaining to the yeshiva, din (law), and religious decisions. As he was a man of wealth, he accepted no salary for the services he rendered to the Jewish community of Kraków.
Yechiel ben Joseph of Paris or Jehiel of Paris, called Sire Vives in French and Vivus Meldensis in Latin, was a major Talmudic scholar and Tosafist from northern France, father-in-law of Isaac ben Joseph of Corbeil. He was a disciple of Rabbi Judah Messer Leon, and succeeded him in 1225 as head of the Yeshiva of Paris, which then boasted some 300 students; his best known student was Meir of Rothenburg. He is the author of many Tosafot.
Samson ben Abraham of Sens ,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 spiritual heir of Rabbi Isaac ben Samuel ha-Zaken. He is referred also known as "the Rash" or "the Prince of Sens", and within Tosafot as "Rashba".
Nicholas Donin of La Rochelle, a Jewish convert to Christianity in early thirteenth-century Paris, is known for his role in the 1240 Disputation of Paris, which resulted in a decree for the public burning of all available manuscripts of the Talmud. Latin sources referred to him as "Rupellus," referring to his native La Rochelle.
Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon (1166–1224) was a French tosafist born in Paris.
Abraham ben Isaac of Narbonne (c. 1080-85 – 1158) was a Provençal rabbi, also known as Raavad II, and author of the halachic work Ha-Eshkol.
Simḥa ben Samuel of Speyer was a German rabbi and tosafist. Neither the year of his birth nor that of his death is known. He was one of the leading signatories of the Takkanot Shum He was a nephew of the director (parnas) Kalonymus, a student of R. Eliezer of Metz, and a colleague of Eliezer ben Joel ha-Levi.
Perez ben Elijah of Corbeil was a French tosafist, son of the Talmudist Elijah of Tours. In Talmudic literature he is designated by the abbreviations RaP, RaPaSh, and MaHaRPaSh.
Machir ben Judah was a French Jewish scholar of the tenth and eleventh centuries, born at Metz, and brother of R. Gershom "the Light of the Exile".
Judah ben Nathan, also referred to by the Hebrew acronym RiVaN, 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 extent his continuator.
Isaac ben Melchizedek, was a rabbinic scholar from Siponto, Italy, and one of the first medieval scholars to have composed a commentary on the Mishnah, of which only his commentary on Seder Zera'im survives. Elements of the Mishnaic order of Taharot are also cited in his name by the Tosafists, but the complete work is no longer extant.
Abraham ben Joseph of Orleans was an early 12th-century French Tosafist and the son of Joseph Bekhor Shor and the brother of Saadia Bekhor Shor. Some have suggested that he is identical with Abraham ben Rabbi Joce. Many of his interpretations of the Talmud are quoted several times in the Tosafot.
Elhanan ben Isaac Jaffe of Dampierre also known as Rabbeinu Elhanan was a 12th-century French Tosafist and the son of Isaac ben Samuel. He is mostly known for his numerous commentaries on the Talmudic tractates, Avodah Zarah and Yoma among other notable commentaries. He is also the founder of the Jaffe family.
