Responsum: On a Book Thief

Isaac ben Jacob ha-Kohen al-Fāsī (known as Rif) was born in Qal‘at Ḥammād in what is now Algeria. After studying with leading scholars in Qayrawān, now Tunisia, al-Fāsī moved to Fez, now Morocco. He left Fez for Lucena, Spain, in 1088 and became the head of the academy there after the death of Isaac Ibn Ghiyath (1038–1089). Al-Fāsī was the author of hundreds of responsa, primarily written in Judeo-Arabic, but his most lasting contribution is his Hebrew and Aramaic Book of the Laws (Sefer ha-halakhot), a digest of the Babylonian Talmud that largely omits dialectic, legends, and nonapplicable laws. Al-Fāsī frequently cites Hayya Ga’on (939–1038) and other geonim. The Book of the Laws was immensely popular, attracted countless later commentaries, and exerted tremendous influence on the legal tradition, particularly on Maimonides (1138–1204). This work is included in all standard editions of the Babylonian Talmud.