Judah ben Yakar (d. between 1201 and 1218) was a rabbi and talmudist. Born in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

, he later studied under

Isaac ben Abraham of Dampierre Isaac ben Abraham (יצחק בן אברהם), also called Rabbi Isaac ha-Baḥur (Hebrew: ר"י הבחור or רבי יצחק הבחור, which translates to "Rabbi Isaac the Younger") and by its Hebrew acronym RIBA (ריב"א) or RIẒBA (ריצב" ...

in northern France. Surviving documents place him in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in 1175, and establish that he died between 1201 and 1218. He was the teacher of

Nahmanides Moses ben Nachman ( he, מֹשֶׁה בֶּן־נָחְמָן ''Mōše ben-Nāḥmān'', "Moses son of Nachman"; 1194–1270), commonly known as Nachmanides (; el, Ναχμανίδης ''Nakhmanídēs''), and also referred to by the acronym Ra ...

(Ramban), and through him Nahmanides learned the scholarship of the

Tosafists Tosafists were rabbis of France and Germany, who lived from the 12th to the mid-15th centuries, in the period of Rishonim. The Tosafists composed critical and explanatory glosses (questions, notes, interpretations, rulings and sources) on the Ta ...

. He is quoted frequently in the works of Nahmanides, and occasionally in those of

Shlomo ibn Aderet Shlomo ben Avraham ibn Aderet ( he, שלמה בן אברהם אבן אדרת or Solomon son of Abraham son of Aderet) (1235 – 1310) was a medieval rabbi, halakhist, and Talmudist. He is widely known as the Rashba (Hebrew: ), the Hebrew acronym ...

(Rashba),

Yom Tov Asevilli Yom Tov ben Abraham of Seville ( 1260 – 1320; also Asevilli, Assevilli, Ashbili) commonly known by the Hebrew acronym Ritva, ( he, ריטב"א) was a medieval rabbi and rosh yeshiva of the Yeshiva of Seville, known for his commentaries on the T ...

(Ritva), and others. He was known as "a great storehouse of the two

Talmuds 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 cente ...

". He wrote a commentary on the

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century ...

- apparently the first such commentary - which is no longer extant. According to some, he also wrote a commentary to the

Babylonian Talmud 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 cent ...

, but this too is lost. He wrote a commentary on the prayer liturgy, known as ''Maayan Ganim'', which was often quoted by later

rishonim ''Rishonim'' (; he, ; sing. he, , ''Rishon'', "the first ones") were the leading rabbis and '' poskim'' who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, , "Set Table", a ...

, particularly

David Abudirham David Abudarham (fl. 1340) ( he, ר׳ דָּוִד אַבּוּדַרְהָם), referred to as Abu darham, Abudraham, or Avudraham, was a rishon who lived at Seville and was known for his commentary on the Synagogue liturgy. Biography He is sa ...

. According to Gershon Scholem and

Moshe Idel Moshe Idel ( he, משה אידל; born January 19, 1947) is a Romanian-Israeli historian and philosopher of Jewish mysticism. He is Emeritus Max Cooper Professor in Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and a Senior Researcher at the ...

he was one of the earliest

kabbalists Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "receiver"). The def ...

, but Haviva Pedaya disagreed.גרשם שלום, "לחקר קבלת רבי יצחק בן יעקב הכהן" תרביץ ג תרצ"ב, עמ' 277; משה אידל רמב"ן: קבלה הלכה ומנהיגות רוחנית, תרביץ סד, תשנ"ה, עמ' 542; חביבה פדיה, הרמב"ן - התעלות: זמן מחזורי וטקסט קדוש תל אביב תשס"ג עמ' 89, הע' 5.

References

{{Authority control Jewish mysticism Kabbalists 13th-century French rabbis Neoplatonists Provençal Jews Place of birth unknown Date of death unknown Place of death unknown Date of birth unknown 13th-century deaths Year of birth unknown 13th-century Catalan rabbis Rabbis from Barcelona