Nissim ben Jacob


Nissim ben Jacob, was a rabbi best known today for his Talmudic commentary ha-Mafteach, by which title he is also known.

Biography

Rav Nissim studied at the Kairouan yeshiva, initially under his father - Jacob ben Nissim who had studied under Hai Gaon - and then under Chushiel, whom he succeeded as head of the Yeshiva. Nissim himself later became head of the yeshiva; in this capacity he is closely associated with Chananel son of Chushiel. His most famous student is probably Isaac Alfasi. Rav Nissim maintained an active correspondence with Hai Gaon and with Shmuel Hanaggid, whose son Joseph married Nissim's only daughter.

Works

The commentary Sefer mafteaḥ le-manʻ ūlei ha-talmūd is essentially a Talmudic cross-reference. In it Rav Nissim identifies the sources for Mishnaic quotes, identifying obscure allusions to other places in Talmudic literature. He quotes from the Tosefta, Mekhilta, Sifre, Sifra, and from the Jerusalem Talmud, the explanations of which he sometimes prefers to those of the Babylonian Talmud. Nissim did not confine himself to quoting references, he also discusses these in connection with the text; this work is thus also a commentary. The work was written on several tractates, and is printed, in many editions, on the page itself.
Nissim also wrote other works, some of which have been lost, but which are quoted by later sages:
R. Nissim appears as a character in A Delightful Compendium of Consolation: A Fabulous Tale of Romance, Adventure and Faith in the Medieval Mediterranean, a novel by Burton Visotzky. The novel expands on the few known biographical facts. Its title, A Delightful Compendium, derives from "Ḥibbur Yafeh".