Jacob ben Judah Landau (died 1493) () was a

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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 ...

and

halakhic ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments (''mitzv ...

codifier, who wrote the halakhic digest ''The Agur'' (האגור).

Biography

Landau lived in the second half of the 15th century. His father was one of the chief authorities 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 ...

in Germany; hundreds of Talmudists, among them naturally his son, were his pupils. Landau left Germany and settled in Italy, living first in

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

(1480) and then in

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(1487).

Works

In Naples, some time between 1487 and 1492, he published his code ''Agur''. He composed this for his pupil Ezra Abraham b. David Obadiah, because, the latter's time being devoted to

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and

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, he could not enter deeply into the study of the Talmud (see introduction to ''Agur''). This practical consideration determined the form of the ''Agur'', which contains only those rules that a layman should know, and comprises principally an abridged presentation of the material treated in the first and second parts of the '' Turim''. The author of the ''Turim'',

Jacob ben Asher Jacob ben Asher (c. 1270–1340), also known as Ba'al ha-Turim as well as Yaakov ben haRosh, was an influential Medieval rabbinic authority. He is often referred to as the Ba'al ha-Turim ("Author of the ''Turim''"), after his main work, the ''A ...

, is Landau's chief authority, and the ''Agur'' may be considered really as a supplement to that work. In the ''Agur'', Landau gives excerpts from the halakhic literature which appeared after the time of Jacob ben Asher. Although the ''Agur'' possesses little originality, it held an important position among law codes, and is often quoted, especially by

Joseph Caro Joseph ben Ephraim Karo, also spelled Yosef Caro, or Qaro (; 1488 – March 24, 1575, 13 Nisan 5335 A.M.), was a prominent Sephardic Jewish rabbi renowned as the author of the last great codification of Jewish law, the ''Beit Yosef'', and its ...

in the ''

Shulchan Aruch The ''Shulhan Arukh'' ( ),, often called "the Code of Jewish Law", is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Rabbinic Judaism. It was authored in the city of Safed in what is now Israel by Joseph Karo in 1563 and published in ...

''. German influence on the religious practices of the Italians was increased by Landau's work, such authorities as Jacob Mölin, Isserlein, and other Germans having been little noticed by Italians before him. The ''Agur'' was the first Jewish work to contain a ''

Haskama An imprimatur (sometimes abbreviated as ''impr.'', from Latin, "let it be printed") is a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement. The imprimatur rule in the Catho ...

'' (rabbinical approbation), besides being the second Hebrew book printed during the author's lifetime. At the end of the ''Agur'', Landau gave a number of conundrums relating to ''halakhah'', under the title "Sefer Chazon," which were afterward published separately (

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, 1546;

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, 1608). At the end of the preface the author explains three reasons for naming it the Agur''. The senses of Agur he used are (1) hunkering, referring to his humility; (2) a heap, as it is a collected digest; and (3) dwelling, referring to the "tents of Shem" which represent Torah study (Gen. 9).

References

Its bibliography: * Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, pp. 550–551; *

Steinschneider Moritz Steinschneider (; 30 March 1816 – 24 January 1907) was a Moravian bibliographer and Orientalist, and an important figure in Jewish studies and Jewish history. He is credited as having invented the term ''antisemitism.'' Education Mo ...

, Cat. Bodl. col. 1225.

External links

Sefer ha'Agur ha-Shalem ID #49857 at HebrewBooks.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Landau, Jacob ben Judah 1493 deaths 15th-century German rabbis 15th-century Italian rabbis Year of birth unknown Exponents of Jewish law