Tosafists were rabbis of France and Germany, who lived from the 12th to the mid-15th centuries, in the period of Rishonim. The Tosafists composed critical and explanatory glosses on the Talmud, which are collectively called Tosafot. The Tosafot are important to the practical application of Jewish law, because the law depends on how the Talmud is understood and interpreted.
Alphabetical list of Tosafists
Of the great number of tosafists not all are known by name. The following is an alphabetical list of them; many, however, are known only through citations.
Also known as Avigdor ben Elijah ha-Kohen. Flourished in the middle of the thirteenth century; his tosafot are mentioned in the edited tosafot to Ketuvot 63b.
French Talmudist; lived at Orleans, and perhaps at London, in the twelfth century. One of the older tosafists, his interpretations of the Talmud are quoted several times in the Tosafot. He is mentioned as the father of three daughters. He was the father-in-law of Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon, and therefore a contemporary of Rabbenu Tam of Rameru, the head of the tosafistic school in the middle of the twelfth century.
Resided in Cologne and later in Toledo, Spain. His tosafot, entitled Tosefot ha-Rosh or Tosefei Tosafot, appeared in various epochs and works. Many of them were inserted by Bezalel Ashkenazi in Shitah Mekubetzet; those to Yebamot and Ketubot appeared separately at Livorno, 1776; to Sotah, partly at Prague, 1725, and partly in Jacob Faitusi's Mar'eh haOfannim ; to Megillah and Shevuot, in Elijah Borgel's Migdanot Natan ; and to Kiddushin, in the Ma'aseh Rokem. They are included in the Vilna Romm edition of the Talmud.
Flourished at the end of the twelfth century; his tosafot are mentioned by Abraham b. David in his "Temim De'im" and in the edited tosafot to Bava Metzia 11b and Shevuot 28a. His tosafot to Nedarim are referred to by Joseph Colon ; those to Megillah, in Isaiah di Trani's "Ha-Makria'" ; those to Avadah Zarah, in "Mordechai".
Brother of Samson ben Abraham of Sens. Succeeded his teacher Isaac ben Samuel as head of the school of Dampierre, and as a result is also known as Rabbi Isaac ha-Baḥur, or RIBA.
Student of Rabbeinu Tam and one of the earlier tosafists. He was the author of a commentary on Ketubot quoted by Or Zarua. He is quoted very often in the edited tosafot.
Grandson of Rashi, and brother of RaSHBaM and Rabbeinu Tam; died before his father, leaving four children. Although he died young, Isaac wrote tosafot, mentioned by Eliezer ben Joel HaLevi, to several tractates of the Talmud. Isaac himself is often quoted in the edited tosafot.
Flourished in the twelfth century; student of Isaac ben Asher ha-Levi. He corresponded with Jacob Tam and was a fellow student of Moses b. Joel and Ephraim b. Isaac. His tosafot are quoted by Eliezer ben Joel HaLevi and Meir of Rothenburg. He is often quoted also in the edited tosafot.
His tosafot are mentioned in Shitah Mekubetzet, Ketubot 43a. He may be identical with the Isaac b. Reuben who made a comment on Rashi to Bava Kamma 32d.
Italian tosafist of the first half of the thirteenth century. The greater part of his tosafot were published under the title "Tosefot R. Yesha'yahu" ; and many were inserted by Betzalel Ashkenazi in Shitah Mekubetzet.
Lived in the middle of the thirteenth century; mentioned as an author of tosafot in "Mordechai" and "Haggahot Mordechai". Extracts from the tosafot of Israel's students were reproduced by Bezaleel Ashkenazi.
Supposedly a contemporary of Meir of Rothenburg, and perhaps identical with Judah ha-Kohen, Meir's relative. In the extracts from his tosafot to Baba Kamma, inserted in Shitah Mekubetzet, he quotes his still living teacher, the Kohen whom Zunz supposes to be identical with Avigdor Cohen of Vienna. From Shitah Mekubetzet to Baba Metzia it is seen that J. Cohen wrote tosafot to the same tractate.
Flourished at Speyer about 1130; a student of Kalonymus b. Isaac the Elder. He was the author of tosafot and of decisions. He is quoted also in the edited tosafot.
13th century French tosafist. Defended Judaism in the Disputation of Paris. Reported to have moved to Acre, Israel in about 1258, approximately ten years before his death.
Joseph (or Yehosef)
Flourished, according to Zunz, about 1150. Zunz identifies this Joseph with the student of Rashbam whose glosses are quoted in the edited tosafot, and thinks he may be identical with the Joseph of Orleans often cited in the edited tosafot. If so, he must be identified, according to Henri Gross, with Joseph ben Isaac Bekhor Shor. Weiss, however, suggests that this Joseph might have been either Joseph Bonfils, Rabbeinu Tam's teacher, or Joseph b. Isaac of Troyes, one of Rashi's students. Thus it seems that in any case the tosafist mentioned in the "Sefer haYashar" must be distinguished from the one mentioned in Tosafot Ketuvot 70a, as the latter was a student of Rashbam.
Joseph Porat
Many fragments of his tosafot to Shabbat are included in the edited tosafot.
Son-in-law and pupil of Rashi, and to a great extent his continuator. It was Judah who completed Rashi's commentary on Makkot and who wrote the commentary on Nazir which is erroneously attributed to Rashi. He wrote, besides, independent commentaries on Eruvin, Shabbat, Yebamot and Pesachim. Finally, Halberstam manuscript No. 323 contains a fragment of Judah's commentary on Nedarim. It is generally considered that Judah b. Nathan wrote tosafot to several tractates of the Talmud, and he is mentioned as a tosafist in "Haggahot Mordechai". He is often quoted in the edited tosafot.
Italian tosafist of the thirteenth century, whose tosafot were used by the compiler of the "Haggahot Maimuniyyot." Moses himself used the tosafot of Judah ben IsaacMesser Leon, although it is doubtful whether he was Judah's pupil.
Flourished in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; author of the "Sefer Keritut." In this work Samson refers to his glosses on Eruvin and Avodah Zarah; he appears to have written glosses on other Talmudic tractates also.
