Jacob bar Samson

Active in northern France, Jacob bar Samson was a student of Rashi who became a significant talmudist in his own right. Little is known of his life. He was one of the first of Rashi’s circle of students to delve into cosmology and astronomy, topics he explored in a treatise on the Jewish calendar that only partially survives. A number of his other works have survived, mostly in fragments, including a maḥzor, piyyutim (liturgical poems), responsa, as well as commentaries on Pirke Avot, piyyutim, the Talmud, the Book of Creation (Sefer yetsirah), and scripture.