Simcha of Rome was a Jewish scholar and rabbi who lived in Rome in the last quarter of the 13th century . He was given an open letter by the community and sent out to find Maimonides' Commentary on the Mishnah and bring it back with him. He traveled through Provence and Catalonia without meeting with any success. At Barcelona, he applied for assistance to Solomon ben Adret, who gave him a further letter of recommendation. After a prolonged search, he found in Huesca the commentary on the first three orders, and shortly afterward the Arabic original of the commentary on the first five orders. The latter was thereupon translated into Hebrew by several scholars between 1296 and 1298, and Simcha returned with it to Rome, after having encountered various dangers on his journey. He appears to have written some books also, although,with the exception of certain fragments in Shibbole ha-Lekhet , nothing written by him has been preserved.
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Immanuel ben Solomon ben Jekuthiel of Rome was an Italian-Jewish scholar and satirical poet.
The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on the history, culture, and state of Judaism up to the early 20th century. The encyclopedia's managing editor was Isidore Singer and the editorial board was chaired by Isaac K. Funk and Frank H. Vizetelly.
Shlomo ben Avraham ibn Aderet was a medieval rabbi, halakhist, and Talmudist. He is widely known as the Rashba, the Hebrew acronym of his title and name: Rabbi Shlomo ben Avraham.
David ben Boaz was a Karaite Jewish scholar who flourished in the tenth century CE. He is reported to have been the fifth in the line of descent from Anan ben David, the founder of Karaism He was thus considered resh galuta or exilarch of the Karaite community within the Abbasid Caliphate, in opposition to the rabbinical claimant
Saul ben Anan was a Karaite Jewish leader of the eighth century CE. He was the son and successor of Anan ben David. He is styled by the later Karaites nasi (prince) and Rosh ha-golah (exilarch). Saul's activity was unimportant relative to his more famous father and descendants. He is mentioned by Solomon ben Jeroham in his commentary on the Decalogue as having also written a commentary thereon. He is particularly quoted for his opinion with regard to the sixth commandment; namely, that adultery includes connection with any woman not one's own wife or concubine, and is not confined, as in rabbinical law, to connection with another man's wife. Saul was one of the followers of Gnai Baruch, who is supposed as head of Ezra's bet din to have ordained the reading of the Torah on Shabbatim and holy days, beginning in the month of Tishri and terminating with the end of the year.
Joseph ibn Plat was a Rabbinical authority of the twelfth century CE. He is presumed to have been born in southern Spain, whence he went to Provence and settled in Lunel, though Epstein is of opinion that he was born in the Byzantine Empire. If this is so, he may be identical with the Joseph whom Benjamin of Tudela met in Damascus. He also spent some time in Rome, Italy, and may have traveled in France, Lorraine, Lombardy, and Spain. According to Joseph ibn Tzaddik, he was flourishing in the year 1205; according to Abraham ben Solomon of Torrutiel, he died in 1225; but according to others he died before 1198. Abraham ben David, Asher ben Meshullam, and Zerahiah ha-Levi Gerondi, all of Lunel, received oral instruction from him, and he corresponded with Zerahiah and Abraham ben David in Posquières; in addition, he corresponded with Maimonides and Abraham ben Isaac of Narbonne. He wrote a treatise on the prayers entitled Tikkun Soferim, of which a fragment is extant. His halakic treatises, commentaries on various Talmudic books, such as Nedarim and Hullin, are quoted in the Ittur, the Kol Bo, and Shittah Mequbbetzet to Nedarim, and extracts are to be found in the Pardes; his name, however, is cited in the last-named only in one long citation on the Benedictions.
Azariah ben Moses dei Rossi was an Italian-Jewish physician and scholar. He was born at Mantua in c. 1511; and died in 1578. He was descended from an old Jewish family which, according to a tradition, was brought by Titus from Jerusalem. He was known among Jews as Azariah min-Ha'adumim, a play on his name as well as a possible allusion to the fact that he lived in Catholic Italy, Rome being regarded as a spiritual heir of Esau. Combining an insatiable desire for learning with remarkable mental power, Dei Rossi early in life became exceptionally proficient in Hebrew, Latin, and Italian literature. He studied simultaneously medicine, archeology, history, Greek and Roman antiquities, and Christian ecclesiastical history. When about the age of thirty he married and settled for a time at Ferrara. Later he was found at Ancona, Bologna, Sabbionetta, and again at Ferrara. In 1570 a terrible earthquake visited the last-named city and caused the death of about 200 persons. The house in which Dei Rossi lived was partly destroyed; but it happened that at the moment he and his wife were in their daughter's room, which remained uninjured. During the disturbances consequent upon the earthquake Dei Rossi lived in an outlying village, where he was thrown into association with a Christian scholar, who asked him if there existed a Hebrew translation of the Letter of Aristeas. Dei Rossi answered in the negative, but in twenty days he prepared the desired translation, which he entitled Hadrat Zekenim. His account of the earthquake, written shortly after, is entitled Kol Elohim; he regarded the earthquake as a visitation of God, and not merely as a natural phenomenon.
Hasun ben Mashiach was a Karaite scholar who flourished in Egypt in the first half of the tenth century. According to Steinschneider, "Hasun" is a corrupted form of the Arabic name "Hussain," the ו being easily confounded in manuscript with the י Hasun, or, as he is generally quoted by the Karaite authorities, ben Mashiah, was a younger contemporary of Saadia Gaon, whom, according to Sahl ben Matzliah in his Tokahat Megullah, he once challenged to a religious controversy. Hasun was the author of a polemical work, written probably in Arabic, in which he refuted one of Saadia's unpublished anti-Karaite writings, which came into his possession after the death of the author. Owing to a misunderstanding of a passage in the Eshkol ha-Kofer of Hadassi, Ḥasun was erroneously credited with the authorship of the anonymous chapter, on the theodicy, entitled Sha'ar Tzedek, in the religio-philosophical work "Zikron ha-Datot," and of Quppat ha-Rokelim. Simḥah Isaac Luzki attributes to Ḥasun also a work on the precepts. Abraham ibn Ezra, in his introduction to the commentary on the Pentateuch, quotes a Karaite scholar named Ben Mashiah, who is probably identical with Hasun.
Antigonus of Sokho was the first scholar of whom Pharisee tradition has preserved not only the name but also an important theological doctrine. He flourished about the first half of the third century BCE.
Elijah Ba'al Shem or Eliyahu Ba'al Shem of Chełm was a Polish rabbi who served as chief rabbi of Chełm. He also studied Kabbalah, and, according to his descendant Tzvi Ashkenazi, created a golem. He is credited with creating the first golem with a "shem", so he was known as a "Ba'al Shem." He is the first rabbi in history to be known by this title.
Jacob Mantino ben Samuel was a Jewish scholar and Italian physician, known also as Mantinus.
Avigdor Cohen ben Elijah of Vienna was the earliest of the great Talmudists of Austria.
Moses Botarel was a Spanish scholar who lived in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. He was a pupil of Jacob Sefardi, who instructed him in the Kabbala.
Joshua ben Joseph ibn Vives al-Lorqui was a Spanish-Jewish physician who lived at Alcañiz. In 1408, at the command of the rich and influential Benveniste ben Solomon ben Labi, he wrote a work in Arabic on the value and effects of various foodstuffs and of simple and composite medicaments. It was translated into Hebrew, under the title Gerem ha-Ma'alot, by Benveniste's son, Joseph Vidal.
Matteya ben Heresh or Mattithiah was a Roman tanna of the 2nd century.
Judah ben Tabbai was a Pharisee scholar, av beit din of the Sanhedrin, and one of "the Pairs" (zugot) of Jewish leaders who lived in first century BCE.
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.
Abraham ben Yitzchak of Montpellier, also known as Avraham min haHar is known as a commentator on the greater part of the Talmud. He lived in mountain city of Montpellier, in the Provence section of France. Towards the end of his life he moved to Carpentras and became a member of the Beth Din of Rabbi Mordechai ben Josepha,.
Moses of Évreux was a French tosafist, and author of a siddur, who flourished at Évreux in Normandy in the first half of the thirteenth century. His father was Shneur of Évreux who left behind three children each of them outstanding scholars: Moses of Évreux, Samuel of Évreux and Isaac of Évreux. Moses was the oldest brother and teacher of his younger brothers. They were collectively called "the sages of Évreux".
Isaac ben Melchizedek, also known by the acronym Ribmaṣ, was a rabbinic scholar from Siponto in Italy, and one of the first medieval scholars to have composed a commentary on the Mishnah, although today only 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.