Isaac ben Melchizedek (; also known by the acronym Ribmaṣ ; c. 1090–1160), was a

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

nic scholar from

Siponto Siponto (, ) was an ancient port town and bishopric of Magna Graecia in Apulia, southern Italy. The town was abandoned after earthquakes in the 13th century; today the area is administered as a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Manfredonia, in t ...

, Italy, and one of the first medieval scholars to have composed a commentary on the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

, of which only his commentary on '' Seder Zera'im'' survives. Elements of the Mishnaic order of '' Taharot'' are also cited in his name by the

Tosafists Tosafists were rabbis of France, Germany, Bohemia and Austria, 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 ...

, but the complete work is no longer extant.

Background

Rabbi Isaac ben Melchizedek was the son of an astute Italian Jewish Talmudist. Rabbi Isaac eventually moved away from his home town and settled in

Salerno Salerno (, ; ; ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Campania, southwestern Italy, and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after Naples. It is located ...

. He is known to have fathered at least two sons: Judah and Shiloh. It was in Salerno that Isaac's son, Judah, met with the renowned Jewish traveler,

Benjamin of Tudela Benjamin of Tudela (), also known as Benjamin ben Jonah, was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and Africa in the twelfth century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years. With his ...

. Benjamin of Tudelo referred to his father, Rabbi Isaac, as "the great rabbi." In Italy, Rabbi Isaac maintained a correspondence with Rabbi Yaakov ben Meir, known also as ''Rabbeinu Tam''. Shiloh, his son, is mentioned in ''Sefer ha-'Iṭṭur''.

From
Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
by sea to the city of
Salerno Salerno (, ; ; ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Campania, southwestern Italy, and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after Naples. It is located ...
, where the Christians have a school of medicine. About 600 Jews dwell there. Among the scholars are R. Judah, son of R. Isaac, the son of Melchizedek, the great Rabbi, who came from the city of
Siponto Siponto (, ) was an ancient port town and bishopric of Magna Graecia in Apulia, southern Italy. The town was abandoned after earthquakes in the 13th century; today the area is administered as a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Manfredonia, in t ...
.

Isaac's Mishnah commentary is thought to have had a wide dissemination among Jewish communities throughout the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

littoral and Egypt, as some of his words are cited and argued against by great Jewish scholars in Fostat and in Posquières. Rabbi Abraham b. David of Posquières referred to Rabbi Isaac by the epithet, ''Ha-Rav ha-Yevani'', meaning, "the Grecian rabbi," seeing that part of southern Italy was at that time under

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

influence. Rabbi Isaac's work is also widely cited by Solomon Sirilio where, occasionally, he decides in favor of Isaac's interpretation of a passage in the Mishnah over that of the later scholar,

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

. Both, Ishtori Haparchi and Rabbi

Chaim Joseph David Azulai Haim Yosef David Azulai ben Yitzhak Zerachia (; 1724 – 1 March 1806), commonly known as the Hida (also spelled Chida, the acronym of his name, ), was a Jerusalem born rabbi, rabbinical scholar, a noted bibliophile, and a pioneer in the publica ...

, make mention of him in their writings. Rabbi

Meir of Rothenburg Meir of Rothenburg ( 1215 – 2 May 1293) was a German Rabbi and poet, as well as a major contributing author of the ''tosafot'' on Rashi's commentary on the Talmud. He is also known as Meir ben Baruch (), and by the Hebrew language acr ...

mentions him with respect to teachings in Mishnah '' Kelim'' 8:6; '' Nega'im'' 11:1. Rabbi Isaac's commentary of ''Seder Zera'im'' has been printed in the 1890 Romm Wilna edition of the

Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; ) 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 centerpiece of Jewi ...

. In most editions of the ''Berakhot'' tractate, his commentary on ''Seder Zera'im'' appears in its entirety. The portion of Rabbi Isaac's Mishnah commentary of '' Bikkurim'' 2:4, unto the end of the tractate, is of special importance, as it has been printed in Shimshon of Sens's commentary of the Mishnah where he left no commentary of his own. In Rabbi Isaac ben Melchizedek's commentary, besides citing from the two Talmuds, he frequently makes use of other classical rabbinic sources, such as the ''

Tosefta The Tosefta ( "supplement, addition") is a compilation of Jewish Oral Law from the late second century, the period of the Mishnah and the Jewish sages known as the '' Tannaim''. Background Jewish teachings of the Tannaitic period were cha ...

'', the ''

Sifra Sifra () is the Midrash halakha to the Book of Leviticus. It is frequently quoted in the Talmud and the study of it followed that of the Mishnah. Like Leviticus itself, the midrash is occasionally called Torat Kohanim, and in two passages ''Sifr ...

'' on Leviticus, '' Sifrei Zuṭa'' on the Book of Numbers, the

Aramaic Targum A targum (, ''interpretation'', ''translation'', ''version''; plural: targumim) was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the ) that a professional translator ( ''mǝṯurgǝmān'') would give in the common language o ...

, the '' Seder 'Olam'', the ''Sefer Arukh'' of Rabbi

Nathan ben Jehiel Nathan ben Jehiel of Rome (, 1035 – 1106) was a Jewish Italian lexicographer. He authored the Arukh, a dictionary for Rabbinic Judaism that was the first work to examine Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. He is therefore referred to as "the Arukh." B ...

of Rome, the commentary written by Rabbi

Hai Gaon Hai ben Sherira (), better known as Hai Gaon (), was a medieval Jewish theologian, rabbi and scholar who served as Gaon of the Talmudic academy of Pumbedita during the early 11th century. He was born in 939 and died on March 28, 1038. He receiv ...

on the Mishnaic orders of ''Zera'im'' and ''Ṭaharot'', as well as cites elements taken from R. Nissim's ''Sefer Mafteaḥ'' ("The book of the key to unlocking the Talmud").

Manuscripts

Two manuscripts exist of Isaac ben Melchizedek's Mishnah commentary, one at the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

in Oxford (no. 392 - ichael 203, written on paper and copied in the 16-17th century, containing all of ''Seder Zera'im''; the other is housed at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

(Or 6712), formerly the British Museum, written on parchment and also containing all of ''Seder Zera'im''. Isaac ben Melchizedek Commentary - 2

Importance

Rabbi Isaac's Mishnah commentary was published and edited by Nisan Meir Zaks ( ''q.v.'' N.M. Zaks) in 1975,

laureate In English, the word laureate has come to signify eminence or association with literary awards or Military awards and decorations, military glory. It is also used for recipients of the Nobel Prize, the Gandhi Peace Award, the Student Peace Pri ...

of the "Rav Kook Award" for original Torah literature. When read in conjunction with other commentaries, it is an indispensable source for helping scholars understand the diachrony of the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language unti ...

, especially in its use of Greek

loan words A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...

, and how that some words have changed in meaning over the course of two millennia. Rabbi Isaac's method of elucidating the Mishnah is concise, resembling that of

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...

's commentary on the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

. His commentary is unique in that he not only employs in his commentary Aramaic words to elucidate the text, but also Arabic, Greek, Latin and Italian words, written in Hebrew characters.

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

The British Library - Collection of Talmud Commentaries
(Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project), including commentary of Isaac ben Melchizedek of Siponto
The Commentary of Rabbi Isaac ben Melchzedek of Siponto - ''Seder Zera'im''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isaac ben Melchizedek 12th-century Italian rabbis Commentaries on the Mishnah Medieval Hebraists Medieval Jewish writers Bodleian Library collection British Library collections Italian Hebraists 1160 deaths People from Manfredonia