Judah ben Asher (30 June 1270 – 4 July 1349) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Talmudist The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the center ...

and later rabbi of

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, son of Rabbenu Asher and brother of

Jacob ben Asher Jacob ben Asher (c. 1269 - c. 1343), also known as Ba'al ha-Turim as well as Rabbi Yaakov ben Raash (Rabbeinu Asher), was an influential Medieval rabbinic authority. He is often referred to as the Ba'al ha-Turim ("Master of the Columns"), after ...

("Ba'al haTurim").

Biography

At the age of thirteen, according to the custom of the German Talmudists of that epoch, Judah began to travel. He set out for

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July 18, 1283, and arrived at Toledo April 7, 1285, consuming almost two years in his journey. He does not appear to have stayed long in Toledo, for in 1286 he married the daughter of his oldest brother, Jehiel, who is not known to have left

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before 1305. After her death he married the daughter of Solomon, another brother of his. In 1305 his father, who was then obliged to leave Germany, sent Judah before him into Spain in order to arrange for his settling there. Judah says in his testament that when he first came to Toledo he could not profit much by the

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Talmudists, as he understood neither their writing nor their language; and as he had sore eyes he could not even occupy himself with writing. After his father's death (1321 or 1328) Judah was chosen by the Toledo community as his successor in the rabbinate. He was held in great esteem by the members of his congregation, and when, on account of some disagreement, he manifested a desire to remove to

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, they urged him to remain and doubled his salary. Still, he was not favorably inclined toward Spain; for he recommended his five sons to emigrate to Germany, his native country. Asher, Judah's father, had ordained that every member of his family should give for charitable purposes a tithe of his earnings, and that three-fourths of the amount of such tithe should be confided to two trustees for distribution among the poor. In the agreement signed by Asher and his sons on October 20, 1314, Judah and his brother Jacob were appointed trustees. Judah approved heartily of this charitable institution, and at his request, on September 18, 1346, his sons signed an agreement making a similar arrangement in regard to the disposition of their own earnings.''Bet Talmud'', iv. 377 Judah died at Toledo July 4, 1349.

Works

Judah was a recognized authority on

Halakha ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

, and his responsa, together with a fragment of his commentary on Shabbat, were published, under the title of ''Zikron Yehudah,'' by David Cassel (Berlin, 1846).

References

Its bibliography: * Cassel, introduction to Zikron Yehudah; * Grätz, Gesch. 3d ed., vii. 301-302; *

Steinschneider Moritz Steinschneider (30 March 1816, Prostějov, Moravia, Austrian Empire – 24 January 1907, Berlin) was a Moravian bibliographer and Orientalist. He received his early instruction in Hebrew from his father, Jacob Steinschneider ( 1782; ...

, Cat. Bodl. col. 1291.

Biography

Works

References

Further reading