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The Study of X the Talmud in Spain

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The Study of X the Talmud in Spain 35 T H E ST UDY OFXT HE TAL M UD I N PAI N 3 S . Q; _ S AM EL DAI HE P D U C S h . ” , y / WW " Ba rri ste r- at Lavy ’ Le tu re r t ew s Co e e L n d c a o o n . J ll g , 74 ; / o « LONDO N R . M A Z I N C O . , L T D . 1 921 , D34 N T E N T S C O . alm ud . Int epre tation of the T Codification of the Halacha . Responsa . Earlybeginnings (before the tenth century) . h hanoch Tenth century : Moses ben C anoch f C ben Moses . Joseph ibn Abitur (Cordova) . : Eleventh cent ury Samuel Hanagid (Cordova) . Isaac ibn Albalia Giiat (Lucena) . Isaac ibn (Cordova) . Isaac b . I s aac Al asi—Ri — z Reuben Albargeloni (Barcelona) . f f (Fe — — b. 1 0 1 d . Cordova Granada Lucena 3, Eleventh and twelfth centuries : Jehuda ben Barzillai (Barcelona) . Joseph ben Meir ibn Migash ( Sevilla Lucena) . 1 1 0 Abou t 5 the Jewish Academies of Cordova , Lucena , an and Sevilla closed . Toledo becomes important seat of Talmudic study. : Zerachiah Twelfth century Halevi Gerundi (Gerona) . — — — Moses ben M aimou Ram bam M aimon ides (Cordova — — b. 1 1 d Fez . Jerusalem Fostat ; 35, First great R odifier abbinic C of the Halacha . ’ The effect of Maimonides work . Maimonist controversy . Thirteenth century : Jonah ben Abraham Gerundi Zlfl oses en Nachman— Ramban l (Gerona) . b S o o ’ — i mon ben Abraham ben Aderet Rashba Aaron ben Joseph Halevi (Barcelona) . Thirteenth and fourteenth centuries : Asher ben jechi el — — Rosh (emigrated with his family from the Rhineland to ” 1 0 acob ben Asker Tar Spain ; Toledo , 3 5 j . R Codifier o f c (Toledo) Second great abbinic the Hala ha . ehuda J ben Asher (Toledo) . 2 069 9 58 Fourteenth century : Yom tob ben Abraham Ishbili — —“ V d — R itba (Sevilla Alcolea de Cinca) . i al de Tolosa Harab — Ham agid Ni ssim Gera ndi Ran — — — Isaac ben She she t B arfat Ribash (Valencia Barcelona — Saragossa Algier d . - fifteen th : Z Fourteenth ando centuries Simeon ben emach — — — Duran R ashb az (Maj orca Algier) Isaac Cam panto n The Gaon of Castilia e hu l han 1 488 jos ph Caro born S c Aruch . En d 1 492 The Jews expelled from Spain . of the s tudy of the Talmud in Spain . B I B L I O G R AP H Y AN D AR T I C L E S FO R R E AD I N G : G z G e i e e a en V s V —I X H . h eht d r d . rae s o t , j , l H e n is n s i n V I I I i s tor o the ws ra at o o s . y f j (E gl h T l ) , l n d I V a . I Ws D V l I V V i . d H . e s or o s . an . , , ~ i B it ra e z u r G e sc ic t e u n d Li t erat u r im . e n s e n e S Epp t , g h h g a o n ai sch e n Z eitalt er in M on ats s ehrifl fa r Geschi chte ‘ an d m 1 2 80 - 8 Werz ha t e u den u 1 . i s s s c d s t s f j , 9 , pp 9 am u e Daic h e s ew i s o d e s a nd Co d ifi e rs i n As ects o the S l , J h C p f e e Gen i u s L o nd o n H br w ( , Th e a rt i cle s i n t h e jewi s h E n cyclopedi a u nd e r t h e n am e s o f th e S ch l ars m en t i o n ed i n t he o n e n s . ffi n f g C t t J j ‘ ( } s Th e w o rk s o fth e Sc ho lars m en t i o ne d i n t h e Co n t e n t . n W the LJ v e, border Palesti e and Syria , has as its estern border _ C coastline of Spain . And it is as if some of the m usic of the w Jordan had been wafted across the aves of the sea to them ) K n A banks of the Guadalquivir . The splendour of Palestinia and Babylonian learning is in Spain in early an Talm u dim Both the Babylonian d Palestinian tell us of{ C Y e x 1 tence n the § of Jewish scholars in Spain . The i formation IS that has come down to us from those times , however , very (F is meagre . I t in the Geonic period that Spain begins to fig ure A ro m m e nt l y i i . p as a country of Jewsh learn ng “I“ f) a B i n n i n s E r ly eg g . W" ? h N The Geonim of Babylonia and the Jewish scholars of Spain The were in frequent communication with one another . e J wish Academies of Babylonia were , in the time of their and all existence , the greatest centres of Jewish learning , the countries of the Diaspora turned to the Heads of those Aca demies (Geonim) for advice and information on all matters of doubt that had arisen in the vas t field of Jewish learning . The vastest portion of this field was occupied by the study of the Talmud . The Halacha required constant explanation . Manyportions of the Talmud could not b e understood by ho P many scholars and required elucidation . Wshall explain Who shall elucidate The Geonim . They were the successors ‘ S abu raim of the Amoraim and the , and their schools were m the depositories of the ancient traditions . The Geoni could TH A 6 STUDY OF E T LMUD IN SPAIN . therefore explain difficulties in the - Talmud and were able t o n he R s unravel knotty poi ts in t Halacha . The e ponsa i f n 31 1312711 the ' Academ ies - of (a swers , ) which emanated from Babylonia must ha ve been legion . Many of these responsa “ ' ' these res nsa were addressed to the scholars of Spain . From po we learn that in the ninth century there were large J ew ish communities in the South as well as in the North of Spain . One town in Andalusia (Lucena) is spoken of as . s m m i habited solely by Jews . The scholars of the e co un ties a 13331 73327W1 } 13m are referred to as gre t scholars ( 1 51 m) . We o v a and i iof also hear of Babylonian sch lars isiting Sp in i ‘ n W the ni Spanish scholars visiting Babylo ia . hile Spa sh " . scholars visited Babylonia in order to sit there at the . feet 0 f ' r a seem é to the Princes of the To ah , the Babylonian schol rs have Visited Spain mainly with the obj ect of getting fi nan cial ' 1 . e . k now 5t hat support for the B abylonian Academies . W “ almost all the countries of the Diaspora contributed t owards Pu m b ditha the upkeep of the famous Schools of Sura and e . The support which the Spanish communities T e c omm unities ' felt have been very considerable . h Spanish the obligation to send contributions to Babylonia p artly because of the great importance ofthe Babylonian Academies and partly also because they depended upon the ' Heads of w those Academies for enlightenment and help , in the study of the Talmud . n e n u T e t h C t r y. Th . e _ t Jewish learning made great strides in Spain , grea scholars whom we meet in Spam i n the ninth century n o doubt had many disciples who helped to spread in the land the tenth the knowledge and the study of the Talmud . In R . Nathan s century we find in Cordova a Dayyan , , who g ive - : ublic d isc on . W in the Synagogue p ourses the Talmud ith han- oh Mos es b . C o the advent of R . in Cordova (about that city become s an impo rtant Centre of Jewish learning in THE . THE STUDY OF TALMUD IN SPAIN . 7 h h . C anoc Spain . Moses b , who was a great Talmudic scholar , became the Dayyan of the community and the head of the Ch ch . ano Yeshiba in Cordova . The work of Moses b was — greatly furthered by Chasdai ibn S hapru t (9 1 5 970 or Chanoch Moses b . was soon recognised as a great Talmudic u a thority , and many questions were addressed to him instead ' P u m b di ha of being sent to Babylonia . Sura and e t began to be supplanted by Lucena and Cordova . The responsa of Chan och Moses b . are written in the terse and lucid style in - f i Which the Geonim wrote . Although his o fic al title was Chano ch . Dayyan , Moses b . was in fact the Gaon of Spain He died about 970 and was su cceeded by his s on Chanoch who continued the work of his father A great contemporary of Chano ch w as l os eph i bn A‘ztar who also lived in Cordova h h i C an oc .
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