Judah ben Asher
- Asher ben Jehiel (father)
Judah ben Asher (30 June 1270 – 4 July 1349)[1] was a German Talmudist and later rabbi of Toledo, Spain, son of Rabbenu Asher and brother of Jacob ben Asher ("Ba'al haTurim").
Biography
At the age of thirteen, according to the custom of the German Talmudists of that epoch, Judah began to travel. He set out for Spain July 18, 1283, and arrived at Toledo April 7, 1285, consuming almost two years in his journey. He does not appear to have stayed long in Toledo, for in 1286 he married the daughter of his oldest brother, Jehiel, who is not known to have left Germany before 1305. After her death he married the daughter of Solomon, another brother of his. In 1305 his father, who was then obliged to leave Germany, sent Judah before him into Spain in order to arrange for his settling there.
Judah says in his testament that when he first came to Toledo he could not profit much by the Spanish Talmudists, as he understood neither their writing nor their language; and as he had sore eyes he could not even occupy himself with writing. After his father's death (1321 or 1328) Judah was chosen by the Toledo community as his successor in the rabbinate. He was held in great esteem by the members of his congregation, and when, on account of some disagreement, he manifested a desire to remove to Seville, they urged him to remain and doubled his salary. Still, he was not favorably inclined toward Spain; for he recommended his five sons to emigrate to Germany, his native country.
Asher, Judah's father, had ordained that every member of his family should give for charitable purposes a tithe of his earnings, and that three-fourths of the amount of such tithe should be confided to two trustees for distribution among the poor. In the agreement signed by Asher and his sons on October 20, 1314, Judah and his brother Jacob were appointed trustees. Judah approved heartily of this charitable institution, and at his request, on September 18, 1346, his sons signed an agreement making a similar arrangement in regard to the disposition of their own earnings.[2] Judah died at Toledo July 4, 1349.
Works
Judah was a recognized authority on Halakha, and his responsa, together with a fragment of his commentary on Shabbat, were published, under the title of Zikron Yehudah, by David Cassel (Berlin, 1846).
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Judah ben Asher". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Its bibliography:
- Cassel, introduction to Zikron Yehudah;
- Grätz, Gesch. 3d ed., vii. 301-302;
- Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1291.
Further reading
- Greene, Wallace (1979). The Life and Times of Rabbi Judah ben Asher. Yeshiva University dissertation. OCLC 40690543.
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- Eliezer ben Samuel (Yereim)
- Isaac ben Samuel (Ri HaZaken)
- Moses ben Jacob of Coucy (Semag)
- Judah ben Nathan (Rivan)
- Bechor Shor
- Abraham ben Joseph of Orleans
- Elijah of Paris
- Judah ben Yom Tov
- Haim ben Hananel HaCohen
- Yechiel of Paris
- Rivam
- Peretz ben Elijah
- Eliezer of Toul
- Chaim Paltiel
- Jacob of Orléans
- Samson of Chinon
- Jacob of Chinon
- Eliezer of Touques
- Isaac ben Abraham of Dampierre
- Elhanan ben Isaac of Dampierre
- Baruch ben Isaac
- Samson ben Abraham of Sens
- Isaac ben Eliezer Halevi
- Meir ben Samuel
- Moses of Évreux
- Samuel of Évreux
- Samuel ben Solomon of Falaise
- Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon
- Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils
- Menahem ben Helbo
- Simeon Kara
- Shemaiah of Soissons
- Elijah ben Menahem HaZaken
- Ephraim ben Samson
- Meshullam ben Kalonymus
- Gershom ben Judah (Rabbeinu Gershom)
- Simeon bar Isaac of Mainz
- Asher ben Jehiel (Rosh)
- Jacob ben Asher (Baal HaTurim)
- Mordechai ben Hillel (Mordechai)
- Meir of Rothenburg (Maharam MeRotenberg)
- Yaakov ben Moshe Levi Moelin (Maharil)
- Eliezer ben Nathan (Ra'aven)
- Eliezer ben Joel HaLevi (Raavyah)
- Eleazar of Worms (Rokeach)
- Meir HaKohen (Hagahot Maimuniot)
- Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg (Yehudah haHasid)
- Yaakov ben Yakar
- Isaac ben Mordecai of Regensburg
- Ephraim ben Isaac of Regensburg
- Samson ben Eliezer
- Eliezer ben Isaac ha-Gadol
- Judah ben Kalonymus
- Yehuda HaKohen ben Meir
- Meir ben Baruch Halevi
- Israel Bruna
- Israel of Bamberg
- Ephraim of Bonn
- Judah ben Asher
- Joel ben Isaac ha-Levi
- Jacob ben Judah Landau
- Samuel ben Natronai
- Alexander Suslin
- Jacob Weil
- Isaac ben Asher ha-Levi
- Simha of Speyer
- Isaac Asir HaTikvah
- Israel Isserlein (Terumat HaDeshen)
- Isaac of Vienna (Or Zarua)
- Avigdor Cohen of Vienna
- Isaac Tyrnau
- Nathan ben Jehiel (the Aruch)
- Isaiah di Trani (Rid)
- Isaiah di Trani the Younger (Riaz)
- Obadiah of Bertinoro
- Menahem Recanati
- Zedekiah Anaw (Shibbolei HaLeket)
- Benjamin Anaw
- Judah Anav
- Moses ben Meir of Ferrara
- Eliezer ben Samuel of Verona
- Hillel ben Samuel
- Joseph Colon Trabotto
- Isaac ben Melchizedek
- Judah Messer Leon