Jacob ben Solomon ibn Habib (
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
: יעקב בן שלמה אבן חביב) (alternative transliteration: Yaakov ben Shlomo ibn Habib)
(c. 1460 – 1516) 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 ...
and
talmudist
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 ...
, best known as the author of ''
Ein Yaakov'', a compilation of all the
Aggadic material in the Talmud together with commentaries.
Biography
Jacob Ibn Habib was born at
Zamora, Spain
Zamora () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital of the province of Zamora. The city straddles the Duero river. With its 24 characteristic Romanesque style churches of the ...
.
In his youth he
studied the Talmud under Rabbi
Samuel Valensi.
In 1492, when the Jews were
expelled from Spain, he settled at
Salonica
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
, where he wrote his ''
Ein Yaakov'' in the house of Don Judah
Benveniste, grandson of Don Abraham Benveniste, who placed his rich library at his disposal.
Ibn Ḥabib also availed himself of the library of Don Shemuel Benveniste the brother of Judah, which contained, among other great works, a large collection of