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.
Zecharias Frankel, also known as Zacharias Frankel was a Bohemian-German rabbi and a historian who studied the historical development of Judaism. He was born in Prague and died in Breslau. He was the founder and the most eminent member of the school of positive-historical Judaism, which advocates freedom of research while upholding the authority of traditional Jewish belief and practice. This school of thought was the intellectual progenitor of Conservative Judaism.
Kohen is the Hebrew word for "priest", used in reference to the Aaronic priesthood, also called Aaronites or Aaronides. They are traditionally believed and halakhically required to be of direct patrilineal descent from the biblical Aaron, brother of Moses, and thus belong to the Tribe of Levi.
Judah Loew ben Bezalel, also known as Rabbi Loew, the Maharal of Prague, or simply the Maharal, was an important Talmudic scholar, Jewish mystic, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who, for most of his life, served as a leading rabbi in the cities of Mikulov in Moravia and Prague in Bohemia.
Elijah ben Solomon Zalman,, also known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna, or by his Hebrew acronym Gra, was a Lithuanian Jewish Talmudist, halakhist, kabbalist, and the foremost leader of misnagdic (non-hasidic) Jewry of the past few centuries. He is commonly referred to in Hebrew as ha-Gaon he-Chasid mi-Vilna, "the pious genius from Vilnius".
The Davidic line or House of David is the lineage of the Israelite king David. In Judaism it is based on texts from the Hebrew Bible and through the succeeding centuries based on later traditions. In Christianity, the New Testament follows the line through Mary and Joseph to Jesus.
In early modern Europe, particularly in Germany, a court Jew or court factor was a Jewish banker who handled the finances of, or lent money to, royalty and nobility. In return for their services, court Jews gained social privileges, including, in some cases, being granted noble status.
Turnov is a town in Semily District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. It is a traditional centre for gemstone polishing, glass craftsmanship and arts. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone.
Rabbi Moses Isserles, also known by the acronym Rema, was an eminent Polish Ashkenazi rabbi, talmudist, and posek.
Shmuel Eidels was a renowned rabbi and Talmudist famous for his commentary on the Talmud, Chiddushei Halachot. Eidels is also known as Maharsha.
Isaiah or Yeshayahu ben Avraham Ha-Levi Horowitz, , also known as the Shelah HaKaddosh after the title of his best-known work, was a prominent rabbi and mystic.
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 Gershon Shaul Yom-Tov Lipmann ben Nathan ha-Levi Heller, was a Bohemian rabbi and Talmudist, best known for writing a commentary on the Mishnah called the Tosefet Yom-Tov (1614–1617). Heller was one of the major Talmudic scholars in Prague and in Poland during the "Golden Age" before 1648.
The Budapest University of Jewish Studies is a university in Budapest, Hungary. It was opened in 1877, a few decades after the first European rabbinical seminaries had been built in Padua, Metz, Paris and Breslau. Still, it remains the oldest existing institution in the world where rabbis are graduated.
Mar Ukba ben Judah, also known as Mar Ukban IV was the Babylonian Exilarch from 890 until his banishment in 917 AD. He was briefly reinstated again in the year 918, however the following year he was disposed and succeeded by his contentious cousin, David ben Zakkai.
Moses ben Isaac Bonems was a 17th-century Polish rabbi and talmudic scholar.
The Horowitz family is a Levitical Ashkenazi rabbinic family, who are among the most prominent rabbinic families in Europe and are generally considered to possess the oldest and best recorded Levitical pedigree. The family chiefly descends from R. Joseph HaLevi who settled in Hořovice, Bohemia in 1391 and adopted the surname "Ish-Horowitz".
The Jaffe family is an Ashkenazi Jewish Rabbinic family originally from Dampierre, France. The family descends from the 12th century Tosafist, Elhanan Jaffe of Dampierre. Members of the family have produced numerous famous Rabbis, Court Jews, Talmudic scholars, Scientists, businessmen, academics and politicians, with members in Germany, Bohemia, Austria, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Great Britain, Italy, Canada, Israel and the United States.
Abraham ben Moses Jaffe of Bohemia also known by his Latin name "'Abraham Judaeus Bohemus" was a very prominent 16th-century Bohemian Jewish banker, tax collector, money lender and Court Jew who later moved to Poland and served as the Prefect of the Council of Four Lands from 1514 to 1518.
Baruch Jeitteles was a Jewish scholar, writer, and doctor from Bohemia, associated with the Jewish Enlightenment movement (Haskalah). His teachers were Rabbi Yechezkel Landau of Prague and later Moses Mendelssohn of Berlin.
