''Rabbeinu'' Meshullam son of Jacob (or ''Meshullam HaKohen ben Ya'akov'') also known as ''Rabbeinu Meshullam hagodol'' (Rabbi Meshullem the great) was a Franco-Jewish

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 ce ...

ist of the twelfth century CE.Heinrich Graetz History of the Jews - Page 113 He led a Talmudic

Yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy a ...

in Lunel which produced several famous scholars, and was an intimate friend of Abraham ben Isaac, ''Av

beth din A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...

'' of

Narbonne Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the ...

, who addressed to him several

responsa ''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars ...

, and spoke of him in high terms. His Talmudic decisions are quoted in '' Sefer ha-Terumot.'' He was interested also in philosophy. According to R' Yehudah ibn Tibbon, whom he encouraged to translate

Bahya ibn Paquda Bahya ben Joseph ibn Paquda (also: Pakuda, Bakuda, Hebrew: , ar, بهية بن فاقودا), c. 1050–1120, was a Jewish philosopher and rabbi who lived at Zaragoza, Al-Andalus (now Spain). He was one of two people now known as Rabbeinu Behay ...

's ''Al-Hidayah ila Fara'id al-Qulub'' (

Chovot ha-Levavot ''Chovot HaLevavot'', or ''Ḥobot HaLebabot'' (; he, חובות הלבבות; English: ''Duties of the Hearts''), is the primary work of the Jewish rabbi, Bahya ibn Paquda, full name ''Bahya ben Joseph ibn Pakuda''. Rabbi Ibn Paquda is believed ...

) into Hebrew, he wrote several works dealing with moral

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

, advised and assisted other Jewish writers, and possessed a large library. R' Yehudah Ibn Tibbon never wearied of praising R' Meshullam's zeal in investigating the various branches of knowledge. R' Meshullam was the father of the renowned R'

Asher ben Meshullam Rabbeinu Asher ben Meshullam was a Jewish theologian and Talmudic scholar who lived at Lunel in the second half of the 12th century CE.Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion - Page 74) A renowned Talmudist, he was a son of the well-known R' Meshu ...

HaKohen. R' Meshullam's disciples include the

Raavad Abraham ben David ( – 27 November 1198), also known by the abbreviation RABaD (for ''Rabbeinu'' Abraham ben David) Ravad or RABaD III, was a Provençal rabbi, a great commentator on the Talmud, ''Sefer Halachot'' of Rabbi Yitzhak Alfasi and ''M ...

and the '' Baal Hama'or''. R' Meshullam died in Lunel in 1170.

Resources

* which cites: :* Henri Gross, ''Gallia Judaica'', p. 229. *Gitlitz, David M. & Linda Kay Davidson. “Pilgrimage and the Jews’’ (Westport: CT: Praeger, 2006), 43-. {{DEFAULTSORT:Meshullam Ben Jacob 1170 deaths 12th-century French rabbis French Orthodox rabbis People from Lunel Year of birth unknown