Creator Bio

Isaac ben Samuel (Ri ha-Zaken)

d. ca. 1185

Isaac ben Samuel (Ri ha-Zaken) of Dampierre, the nephew and leading student of Rabbenu Tam (1100–1171) and a great-grandson of Rashi (1040–1105), was perhaps the foremost Tosafist after his illustrious teacher. Isaac seems also to have lived in the French communes of Ramerupt and Joinville. Although he is constantly quoted by later Tosafists and throughout the printed Tosafot in standard editions of the Babylonian Talmud, very few of Isaac ben Samuel’s own Tosafot survive. This is likely because his original writings were absorbed, reworked, and thus to a certain extent rendered obsolete. Several of his responsa appear in later works, and he also wrote Laws on the Bill of Divorce (Hilkhot ha-get) late in life. His asceticism was renowned, and he may have had some interest in mysticism.

Content by Isaac ben Samuel (Ri ha-Zaken)

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Laws on the Bill of Divorce

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Text
It can be inferred from the mishnah: “One who writes the standard formula of bills of divorce must leave [space for the name of the man and woman]” [m. Gittin 3:2], and other sources, that the scribe…

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Responsum: On Fulfilling a Dead Woman’s Vow

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Text
An incident occurred involving a Jewish woman who died. R. Eliezer of Metz said to her heirs that she had vowed to donate sixty dinars to charity. He had in his possession some of her…