Reflections
The Baalei HaTosefos
An inseparable part of learning the Babylonian Talmud is the study of the baalei HaTosefos. Several hundred rabbonim number among the baalei HaTosefos, who were engaged in the teaching and spreading of Torah from their yeshivos throughout Europe, over a period of more than two hundred years.
Motty Meringer 18/10/2009 11:20
Towards the beginning of the period of the Rishonim, over a span of more than two hundred years, groups of great gedolim, talmidei chachomim were active in batei medrash over the Jewish world, poring over and elucidating the words of Chazal in the Talmud Bavli. The Torah discourses of these Rishonim were organised and prepared for presentation at the end of this period, and merited the title ‘Tosefos’ (additions). This ordered commentary on the Talmud eventually merited to become an inseparable part of study of the Gemora, appearing on the other side of the daf from the commentary of Rashi.
Despite the extent of the commentary of the Tosefos that appears today on the dapim of the Talmud Bavli, what we see is merely a part of the fruit of their labours – in fact, they produced much more than survived to this day. In many yeshivos in France and Ashkenaz, great talmidei chachomim learned and taught Torah to multitudes of students who sat before them and also challenged them in learning and sharpened each others’ minds. This form of learning discourse was the accepted custom in the yeshivos of the baalei HaTosefos, and was strikingly similar to the method of learning of the yeshivos that had existed in Bavel, in Sura, Nehardea and Pumbedisa, in the periods of the Amora’im and the Gaonim.
Yeshivah students searching for new approaches to learning and desiring to drink from a variety of wells of knowledge would travel from one place of learning to another, and in so doing, would spread the teachings of their great rabbonim, the baalei HaTosefos. In every place they reached they would disseminate the Torah culled from their former places of learning, and the debates that ensued served to sharpen and clarify the insights, until a more exact and perfect version emerged. A large portion of the works of the baalei HaTosefos concerns itself with the determination of the exact text of the Gemora, from the various versions that were then extant. The baalei HaTosefos were experts in all aspects of Torah, and would compare the texts of the Talmud Bavli with the words of the Talmud Yerushalmi, as well as the words of the various Baraisos and Toseftos. Primarily, however, they focused on the words of Rashi in his commentary to the Talmud Bavli, and in many places in the Tosefos one finds references to the words of Rashi under the title ‘Peirush haKuntres’ (explanation of the text), followed by the dissection of the same by the baalei HaTosefos. Their conclusions on the identity of the correct version of the text are the words that appear in the Talmud Bavli that we have today. Rabi Shlomo Luria zy”a, the Maharshal, wrote on the work of the baalei HaTosefos that; “They made of the Talmud a sphere, and turned it over and revolved it from every angle, from place to place, until a correct and integrated version of the Talmud emerged.”
The baalei HaTosefos lived in many locations throughout Europe. Many of them resided in France; others lived in Germany (Ashkenaz) and several even lived in England and Italy. The most accepted view is that the first of the baalei HaTosefos were the talmidim of Rabi Shlomo Yitzchaki – Rashi haKadosh – and that some of them were also his descendants. Rashi himself had no sons, only three daughters.
One of Rashi’s daughters married Rabi Meir ben Shmuel, who was one of the first of the baalei HaTosefos. Rabi Meir had three sons, of whom one was Rabi Yaakov Tam, known to us as Rabbeinu Tam. Rabbeinu Tam was the greatest of the sages of France in his generation, and the greatest of the baalei HaTosefos in France. There is scarcely a daf of Gemora upon which the name of Rabbeinu Tam is not cited in the commentary of the baalei HaTosefos.
Rabi Meir’s second son was Rabi Shmuel ben Meir, known as the Rashbam. The Rashbam was also one of the baalei HaTosefos, and his name too is cited on numerous occasions. Apart from his contributions which are cited on the dapim of the Gemora, the Rashbam also completed the commentary of Rashi on Shas in the places where it had not yet been written, for example in maseches Bava Basra where most of the commentary that stands in the customary place of Rashi’s words is in fact the commentary of the Rashbam.
The third son of Rabi Meir was Rabi Yitzchak, the Rivam. The Rivam is also cited on numerous occasions throughout the commentary of the baalei HaTosefos, although he was niftar at an early age. In a letter which Rabbeinu Tam sent to Rabi Eliezer of Magentza, Rabbeinu Tam wrote that; “I cry out with a bitter spirit, and from the magnitude of my anguish my strength is sapped, the light of my eyes is extinguished – at the plucking of the holy ark from among us, the crown of my head – my brother Rabi Yitzchak who was recalled to the Heavenly Yeshivah one month ago, leaving behind seven orphans and the rest of klal Yisrael who mourn him. Even today my anguish is renewed and my pain intensified, as I consider also my father, he should live and be well – and how I, Yaakov, the least of the brothers, should now be writing with tears of such matters. If only Harav Yitzchak were only still with us among the living, he would be debating with us matters which gladden the spirit, with all the vitality with which they were first given on Har Sinai.” The second daughter of Rashi married Rabi Yehudah ben Nosson, the Rivan, who also numbered among the baalei HaTosefos.
Another of the gedolei baalei HaTosefos was Rabi Yitzchak ben Rabi Shmuel, known by the title Ri HaZaken. Ri HaZaken was the son of the sister of Rabbeinu Tam and the Rashbam, and was therefore a great-grandson of Rashi. Ri HaZaken is also known as ‘baal HaTosefos’, owing to the fact that his name is cited in almost every section of the Tosefos that we have today. A contemporary and close friend of Ri HaZaken was Rabi Yaakov of Orleans, who is also cited on numerous occasions throughout the Tosefos. Rabi Yaakov was killed al kiddush HaShem during the course of riots that took place at the time of the coronation of the English king Richard the Lion Heart. In England too a talmid of Rabbeinu Tam was murdered – Rabi Yom Tov ben Yitzchak of Yauny, who was killed together with his fellow Jews, the members of the Jewish community of the town of York, in the pogrom that took place there. Additional baalei HaTosefos were murdered al kiddush HaShem during the second Crusade , including Rabbeinu Petter ben Yosef who was a talmid of Rabbeinu Tam.
The greatest of the baalei HaTosefos in Ashkenaz was Rabi Yitzchak ben Rabi Asher of Speyer. The chiddushim of Rabi Yitzchak are brought down in many places in the Tosefos under the title ‘HaRiva’. The teachings of the Riva were organised and presented by his talmidim – however, in his sefer ‘Sefer HaYashar’, Rabbeinu Tam notes that the talmidim of the Riva also added their own opinions to those of their master under his name. Nonetheless, this does not detract from the significance of the commentary of the Riva in the Tosefos, since his talmidim were also immense talmidei chachomim and gedolei Yisrael. Among the talmidim of the Riva were Rabi Boruch ben Rabi Yitzchak of Regensburg and Rabi Meir of Rottenburg, the great Maharam. Maharam of Rottenburg was one of the last baalei HaTosefos in Ashkenaz, and his talmidim included Rabbeinu Asher, the Rosh. The Rosh himself is already not considered to be of the baalei HaTosefos, but rather one of the commentators on Shas who is referred to by his own name, as Tosefos haRosh.
The words of the baalei HaTosefos that are found in the Talmud Bavli on every daf were organised and compiled by three of the baalei HaTosefos; Rabi Moshe of Ibura, Rabi Eliezer of Tuch and Rabi Peretz bar Eliyahu of Corbeilles. These Tosefos are generally referred to as the ‘Tosefos Tuch’. Apart from these Tosefos, we also have today Tosefos written by Rabi Peretz bar Eliyahu himself, which are known as ‘Tosefos Rabbeinu Peretz’. Also well-known are the ‘Tosefos Shantz’ which were written by a talmid of the Ri HaZaken, Rabi Shimshon bar Avraham of Shantz; and ‘Tosefos Ri’d’ written by Rabi Yeshaya bar Mali di Trani, who was one of the greatest of the baalei HaTosefos in Italy. We also possess today a partial version of the commentaries of the baalei HaTosefos of England, known as the ‘Tosefos chachmei Angliya’. From the works of other Rishonim we can deduce that there were originally yet more commentaries of the Tosefos, which were subsequently lost over the generations, to our detriment.
An event of great significance that occurred during the days of the baalei HaTosefos was the aliyah of many of their number to Eretz Yisrael. This aliyah commenced after the Crusaders strengthened their hold on the Holy Land which they had conquered from the Moslems. The first group of sages arrived in Eretz Yisrael in the year 4971, headed by Rabi Shimshon of Shantz and Rabi Yehonoson of Lunelle. These two immense Torah sages decided to settle in the coastal city of Acco, where they established a yeshivah from which they disseminated Torah to their talmidim in the manner of the baalei HaTosefos. Approximately thirty years after their arrival in the Holy Land, the great disputation took place in France between the apostate Nikolas Donin yimach sh’mo and the chachmei HaTalmud. The sages were represented by Rabi Yechiel of Paris, who was a talmid of Ri HaZaken; but despite the brilliant and elucidating answers and refutations provided by Rabi Yechiel, the christian government decreed a public burning of the Talmud. All efforts to intervene and prevent the execution of the evil decree were in vain, and on a bitter day, the 9th of Tammuz in the year 5004, twenty-four huge wagons crammed with sifrei kodesh were consigned to the flames. In the wake of this tragedy and the subsequent ban on possessing copies of the Talmud in France, Rabi Yechiel of Paris also ascended to Eretz Yisrael where he stood at the helm of the yeshivah in Acco together with his fellow sages. Altogether some three hundred baalei HaTosefos moved to Eretz Yisrael.
The holy words of the Tosefos have been preserved in the most part and today there is scarcely a person who learns the Talmud Bavli without a study of the Tosefos. Their commentaries are an integral and essential component in understanding the words of the Gemora, the Tanna’im and Amora’im, as they should be interpreted. There are many works today solely dedicated to dissecting and interpreting the words of the baalei HaTosefos.
Despite the extent of the commentary of the Tosefos that appears today on the dapim of the Talmud Bavli, what we see is merely a part of the fruit of their labours – in fact, they produced much more than survived to this day. In many yeshivos in France and Ashkenaz, great talmidei chachomim learned and taught Torah to multitudes of students who sat before them and also challenged them in learning and sharpened each others’ minds. This form of learning discourse was the accepted custom in the yeshivos of the baalei HaTosefos, and was strikingly similar to the method of learning of the yeshivos that had existed in Bavel, in Sura, Nehardea and Pumbedisa, in the periods of the Amora’im and the Gaonim.
Yeshivah students searching for new approaches to learning and desiring to drink from a variety of wells of knowledge would travel from one place of learning to another, and in so doing, would spread the teachings of their great rabbonim, the baalei HaTosefos. In every place they reached they would disseminate the Torah culled from their former places of learning, and the debates that ensued served to sharpen and clarify the insights, until a more exact and perfect version emerged. A large portion of the works of the baalei HaTosefos concerns itself with the determination of the exact text of the Gemora, from the various versions that were then extant. The baalei HaTosefos were experts in all aspects of Torah, and would compare the texts of the Talmud Bavli with the words of the Talmud Yerushalmi, as well as the words of the various Baraisos and Toseftos. Primarily, however, they focused on the words of Rashi in his commentary to the Talmud Bavli, and in many places in the Tosefos one finds references to the words of Rashi under the title ‘Peirush haKuntres’ (explanation of the text), followed by the dissection of the same by the baalei HaTosefos. Their conclusions on the identity of the correct version of the text are the words that appear in the Talmud Bavli that we have today. Rabi Shlomo Luria zy”a, the Maharshal, wrote on the work of the baalei HaTosefos that; “They made of the Talmud a sphere, and turned it over and revolved it from every angle, from place to place, until a correct and integrated version of the Talmud emerged.”
The baalei HaTosefos lived in many locations throughout Europe. Many of them resided in France; others lived in Germany (Ashkenaz) and several even lived in England and Italy. The most accepted view is that the first of the baalei HaTosefos were the talmidim of Rabi Shlomo Yitzchaki – Rashi haKadosh – and that some of them were also his descendants. Rashi himself had no sons, only three daughters.
One of Rashi’s daughters married Rabi Meir ben Shmuel, who was one of the first of the baalei HaTosefos. Rabi Meir had three sons, of whom one was Rabi Yaakov Tam, known to us as Rabbeinu Tam. Rabbeinu Tam was the greatest of the sages of France in his generation, and the greatest of the baalei HaTosefos in France. There is scarcely a daf of Gemora upon which the name of Rabbeinu Tam is not cited in the commentary of the baalei HaTosefos.
Rabi Meir’s second son was Rabi Shmuel ben Meir, known as the Rashbam. The Rashbam was also one of the baalei HaTosefos, and his name too is cited on numerous occasions. Apart from his contributions which are cited on the dapim of the Gemora, the Rashbam also completed the commentary of Rashi on Shas in the places where it had not yet been written, for example in maseches Bava Basra where most of the commentary that stands in the customary place of Rashi’s words is in fact the commentary of the Rashbam.
The third son of Rabi Meir was Rabi Yitzchak, the Rivam. The Rivam is also cited on numerous occasions throughout the commentary of the baalei HaTosefos, although he was niftar at an early age. In a letter which Rabbeinu Tam sent to Rabi Eliezer of Magentza, Rabbeinu Tam wrote that; “I cry out with a bitter spirit, and from the magnitude of my anguish my strength is sapped, the light of my eyes is extinguished – at the plucking of the holy ark from among us, the crown of my head – my brother Rabi Yitzchak who was recalled to the Heavenly Yeshivah one month ago, leaving behind seven orphans and the rest of klal Yisrael who mourn him. Even today my anguish is renewed and my pain intensified, as I consider also my father, he should live and be well – and how I, Yaakov, the least of the brothers, should now be writing with tears of such matters. If only Harav Yitzchak were only still with us among the living, he would be debating with us matters which gladden the spirit, with all the vitality with which they were first given on Har Sinai.” The second daughter of Rashi married Rabi Yehudah ben Nosson, the Rivan, who also numbered among the baalei HaTosefos.
Another of the gedolei baalei HaTosefos was Rabi Yitzchak ben Rabi Shmuel, known by the title Ri HaZaken. Ri HaZaken was the son of the sister of Rabbeinu Tam and the Rashbam, and was therefore a great-grandson of Rashi. Ri HaZaken is also known as ‘baal HaTosefos’, owing to the fact that his name is cited in almost every section of the Tosefos that we have today. A contemporary and close friend of Ri HaZaken was Rabi Yaakov of Orleans, who is also cited on numerous occasions throughout the Tosefos. Rabi Yaakov was killed al kiddush HaShem during the course of riots that took place at the time of the coronation of the English king Richard the Lion Heart. In England too a talmid of Rabbeinu Tam was murdered – Rabi Yom Tov ben Yitzchak of Yauny, who was killed together with his fellow Jews, the members of the Jewish community of the town of York, in the pogrom that took place there. Additional baalei HaTosefos were murdered al kiddush HaShem during the second Crusade , including Rabbeinu Petter ben Yosef who was a talmid of Rabbeinu Tam.
The greatest of the baalei HaTosefos in Ashkenaz was Rabi Yitzchak ben Rabi Asher of Speyer. The chiddushim of Rabi Yitzchak are brought down in many places in the Tosefos under the title ‘HaRiva’. The teachings of the Riva were organised and presented by his talmidim – however, in his sefer ‘Sefer HaYashar’, Rabbeinu Tam notes that the talmidim of the Riva also added their own opinions to those of their master under his name. Nonetheless, this does not detract from the significance of the commentary of the Riva in the Tosefos, since his talmidim were also immense talmidei chachomim and gedolei Yisrael. Among the talmidim of the Riva were Rabi Boruch ben Rabi Yitzchak of Regensburg and Rabi Meir of Rottenburg, the great Maharam. Maharam of Rottenburg was one of the last baalei HaTosefos in Ashkenaz, and his talmidim included Rabbeinu Asher, the Rosh. The Rosh himself is already not considered to be of the baalei HaTosefos, but rather one of the commentators on Shas who is referred to by his own name, as Tosefos haRosh.
The words of the baalei HaTosefos that are found in the Talmud Bavli on every daf were organised and compiled by three of the baalei HaTosefos; Rabi Moshe of Ibura, Rabi Eliezer of Tuch and Rabi Peretz bar Eliyahu of Corbeilles. These Tosefos are generally referred to as the ‘Tosefos Tuch’. Apart from these Tosefos, we also have today Tosefos written by Rabi Peretz bar Eliyahu himself, which are known as ‘Tosefos Rabbeinu Peretz’. Also well-known are the ‘Tosefos Shantz’ which were written by a talmid of the Ri HaZaken, Rabi Shimshon bar Avraham of Shantz; and ‘Tosefos Ri’d’ written by Rabi Yeshaya bar Mali di Trani, who was one of the greatest of the baalei HaTosefos in Italy. We also possess today a partial version of the commentaries of the baalei HaTosefos of England, known as the ‘Tosefos chachmei Angliya’. From the works of other Rishonim we can deduce that there were originally yet more commentaries of the Tosefos, which were subsequently lost over the generations, to our detriment.
An event of great significance that occurred during the days of the baalei HaTosefos was the aliyah of many of their number to Eretz Yisrael. This aliyah commenced after the Crusaders strengthened their hold on the Holy Land which they had conquered from the Moslems. The first group of sages arrived in Eretz Yisrael in the year 4971, headed by Rabi Shimshon of Shantz and Rabi Yehonoson of Lunelle. These two immense Torah sages decided to settle in the coastal city of Acco, where they established a yeshivah from which they disseminated Torah to their talmidim in the manner of the baalei HaTosefos. Approximately thirty years after their arrival in the Holy Land, the great disputation took place in France between the apostate Nikolas Donin yimach sh’mo and the chachmei HaTalmud. The sages were represented by Rabi Yechiel of Paris, who was a talmid of Ri HaZaken; but despite the brilliant and elucidating answers and refutations provided by Rabi Yechiel, the christian government decreed a public burning of the Talmud. All efforts to intervene and prevent the execution of the evil decree were in vain, and on a bitter day, the 9th of Tammuz in the year 5004, twenty-four huge wagons crammed with sifrei kodesh were consigned to the flames. In the wake of this tragedy and the subsequent ban on possessing copies of the Talmud in France, Rabi Yechiel of Paris also ascended to Eretz Yisrael where he stood at the helm of the yeshivah in Acco together with his fellow sages. Altogether some three hundred baalei HaTosefos moved to Eretz Yisrael.
The holy words of the Tosefos have been preserved in the most part and today there is scarcely a person who learns the Talmud Bavli without a study of the Tosefos. Their commentaries are an integral and essential component in understanding the words of the Gemora, the Tanna’im and Amora’im, as they should be interpreted. There are many works today solely dedicated to dissecting and interpreting the words of the baalei HaTosefos.
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