Isaac Alfasi and Related Topics

Talmud

Central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (halakha) and Jewish theology.

An early printing of the Talmud (Ta'anit 9b); with commentary by Rashi

A page of a medieval Jerusalem Talmud manuscript, from the Cairo Geniza

The Talmud on display in the Jewish Museum of Switzerland brings together parts from the first two Talmud prints by Daniel Bomberg and Ambrosius Froben.

A Controversy Whatsoever on Talmud<ref>See Schleicher's paintings at MutualArt.</ref>

Jews studying Talmud, París, c. 1880–1905

Samuel Hirszenberg, Talmudic School, c. 1895–1908

Ephraim Moses Lilien, The Talmud Students, engraving, 1915

Maurycy Trębacz, The Dispute, c. 1920–1940

Solomon's Haggadoth, bronze relief from the Knesset Menorah, Jerusalem, by Benno Elkan, 1956

Hilel's Teachings, bronze relief from the Knesset Menorah

Jewish Mysticism: Jochanan ben Sakkai, bronze relief from the Knesset Menorah

Oz veHadar edition of the first page of the Babylonian Talmud, with elements numbered in a spiraling rainbowː (1) Joshua Boaz ben Simon Baruch's Mesorat haShas, (2) Joel Sirkis's Hagahot (3) Akiva Eiger's Gilyon haShas, (4) Completion of Solomon ben Isaac's commentary from the Soncino printing, (5) Nissim ben Jacob's commentary, (6) Hananel ben Hushiel's commentary, (7) a survey of the verses quoted, (8) Joshua Boaz ben Simon Baruch's Ein Mishpat/Ner Mitzvah, (9) the folio and page numbers, (10) the tractate title, (11) the chapter number, (12), the chapter heading, (13), Solomon ben Isaac's commentary, (14) the Tosafot, (15) the Mishnah, (16) the Gemara, (17) an editorial footnote.

Early commentators such as rabbi Isaac Alfasi (North Africa, 1013–1103) attempted to extract and determine the binding legal opinions from the vast corpus of the Talmud.

Maimonides

Medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages.

The dominion of the Almohad Caliphate at its greatest extent, c. 1200

Bas relief of Maimonides in the United States House of Representatives.

Depiction of Maimonides teaching students about the 'measure of man' in an illuminated manuscript.

The title page of The Guide for the Perplexed

Plaque of Maimonides at Rambam Medical Center, Haifa

Manuscript page by Maimonides. Judeo-Arabic language in Hebrew letters.

The original manuscript of the Commentary on the Mishnah, handwritten by Musa bin Maymun in Judeo-Arabic in a Rashi script.

Maimonides studied Torah under his father, who had in turn studied under Rabbi Joseph ibn Migash, a student of Isaac Alfasi.

Halakha

Collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah.

Sefer Torah at Glockengasse Synagogue (museum exhibits), Cologne

Hasidim walk to the synagogue, Rehovot, Israel.

A mixed-gender, egalitarian Conservative service at Robinson's Arch, Western Wall

An illuminated manuscript of Arba'ah Turim from 1435

The Hilchot HaRif was written by the Rabbi Isaac Alfasi (1013–1103); it has summations of the legal material found in the Talmud. Alfasi transcribed the Talmud's halakhic conclusions verbatim, without the surrounding deliberation; he also excluded all aggadic (non-legal, and homiletic) matter. The Hilchot soon superseded the geonic codes, as it contained all the decisions and the laws then relevant, and additionally, served as an accessible Talmudic commentary; it has been printed with almost every subsequent edition of the Talmud.

Statue of the Sephardic philosopher Maimonides, in Córdoba, Spain

Sephardi Jews

Sephardi Jews (יהדות ספרד, ; Djudíos Sefardíes), also known as Sephardic Jews or Sephardim, and referred to by modern scholars as Hispanic Jews,

Jewish Festival in Tetuan, Alfred Dehodencq, 1865, Paris Museum of Jewish Art and History

Sephardi Jewish couple from Sarajevo in traditional clothing (1900)

A 1902 Issue of La Epoca, a Ladino newspaper from Salonica (Thessaloniki)

19th-century Moroccan Sephardic wedding dress.

First Cemetery of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, Shearith Israel (1656–1833) in Manhattan, New York City

Emma Lazarus, American poet. Born into a large New York Sephardi family.

Sephardi family from Misiones Province, Argentina, circa 1900.

The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain (in the year 1492) by Emilio Sala Francés

Dedication at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem written in Hebrew, English, Yiddish, and Judeo-Spanish

13th-century depiction of a Jew and Muslim playing chess in Al-Andalus

Observing the Havdalah ritual, 14th-century Spain

A representation of the 1506 Jewish Massacre in Lisbon.

Interior of the Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam, c. 1680

Execution of Mariana de Carabajal in Mexico City, daughter of Francisca Nuñez de Carabajal, in 1601 by the Santo Oficio.

A young woman weeps during the deportation of Jews of Ioannina (Greece) on 25 March 1944.

Isaac Alfasi

Shulchan Aruch

Most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism.

Hence Karo adopted the Halakhot of Rabbi Isaac Alfasi (the Rif), Maimonides (the Rambam), and Asher ben Jehiel (the Rosh) as his standards, accepting as authoritative the opinion of two of the three, except in cases where most of the ancient authorities were against them or in cases where there was already an accepted custom contrary to his ruling.

Arba'ah Turim

Important Halakhic code composed by Yaakov ben Asher (Cologne, 1270 – Toledo, Spain c. 1340, also referred to as Ba'al Ha-Turim).

A 1565 edition of Even Ha'ezer, the third part of Arba'ah Turim

He used the code of Rabbi Isaac Alfasi as his starting point; these views are then compared to those of Maimonides, as well as to the Ashkenazi traditions contained in the Tosafist literature.

Yeshiva

Traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel.

A typical bet midrash – Yeshivas Ner Yisroel, Baltimore

Chavrusas in study – Yeshiva Gedola of Carteret

Morning seder, Or-Yisrael - a yeshiva founded by the Chazon Ish

Shiur in memory of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein at Yeshivat Har Etzion, a Hesder yeshiva

A depiction of Sura (from Beit Hatefutsot)

Volozhin yeshiva, “mother of the yeshivas”

Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva, now a national monument

The Breslov Yeshiva in Mea Shearim, Jerusalem.

Beth Medrash Govoha, Lakewood, New Jersey – largest yeshiva outside Israel.

"Cheder"-class in Talmud, Tel Aviv, 1946.

Gemara, the first page of tractate Rosh Hashanah

Chavrusas learning beki'ut, recording their summary of each sugya alongside its Mishnah

Cover of the first edition of Mesillat Yesharim.

At these levels, students link the Talmudic discussion to codified law – particularly Mishneh Torah (i.e. Maimonides), Arba'ah Turim and Shulchan Aruch – by studying, also, the halakha-focused commentaries of Asher ben Jehiel, Isaac Alfasi and Mordechai ben Hillel, respectively referred to as “Rosh”, “Rif”, and the “Mordechai”.

Joseph ibn Migash

Rabbi, Posek, and Rosh Yeshiva in Lucena (actually Spain).

He moved to Lucena at the age of 12 to study under the renowned Talmudist Isaac Alfasi.

Lucena, Córdoba

Spanish city and municipality, in the province of Córdoba, autonomous community of Andalusia, 60 km southeast of the provincial capital Córdoba.

Isaac Alfasi founded a large Talmudic academy in Lucena, and here also Isaac ibn Ghayyat, Isaac ibn Albalia, and Joseph ibn Migash were prominent.

Jewish wedding in Venice, 1780 Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme

Italian Jews

Ancient community living in Italy since the Ancient Roman era, who use the Italian liturgy (or “Italian Rite”) as distinct from those Jewish communities in Italy dating from medieval or modern times who use the Sephardic liturgy or the Nusach Ashkenaz.

In matters of religious law, Italian-Rite Jews generally follow the same rules as the Sephardim, in that they accept the authority of Isaac Alfasi and the Shulchan Aruch as opposed to the Ashkenazi customs codified by Moses Isserles (the Rema).