Rabbi Yoel ben Isaac ha-Levi (

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 ...

: רבי יואל בן יצחק הלוי; - 1200) also known as Rav Yoel of Bonn was a 12th-century

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Tosafist The Tosafot, Tosafos or Tosfot () are medieval commentaries on the Talmud. They take the form of critical and explanatory glosses, printed, in almost all Talmud editions, on the outer margin and opposite Rashi's notes. The authors of the Tosafot ...

, and the father of

Eliezer ben Joel HaLevi Eliezer ben Yoel HaLevi of Bonn (Hebrew acronym Ra'avyah; 1140–1225To be more precise, it is only known that he died after 1220.) was a Rabbinic scholar in Germany. He had a significant influence on Asher ben Jehiel (the ROSH). As a Rishon, he ...

Biography

Born in about 1115 in

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, his father Rabbi Yitzchak HaLevi, may have been a minor Rabbi in Mainz. Through his wife, he was related to Samuel ben Natronai. In his early years, Rabbi Yoel studied in

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

under Isaac ben Mordecai and Ephraim ben Isaac. It was Ephraim ben Isaac in particular that Rabbi Yoel had an intense exchange with regarding eating abdominal fat. He later spent time in Wuerzburg and

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, finally settling in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

, where he set up his own

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; 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 are studied in parallel. The stu ...

. His most notable pupils were his son Eliezer and

Ephraim of Bonn Ephraim of Bonn (1132–1200 or 1221?), also known as Ephraim ben Jacob, was a rabbi and writer, known for documenting the massacre of the Jews in the city of York in 1190. Biography Ephraim belonged to a prominent family of scholars, which inclu ...

whom he was related to though his wife. Several of his commentaries have been preserved in "''Sefer ha-Ravyah"'' written by his son, and "''Yihusei Tanna'im va-Amora'im"'' by his one of his teachers,

Judah ben Kalonymus Judah ben Kalonymus ben Moses of Mainz (died 1200) was a Jewish German scholar, halakhic authority, and kabbalist. In his early years, he studied in Speyer under Shemariah ben Mordecai who taught him mysticism. During the Third Crusade, Judah hel ...

. Rabbi Yoel is also known for several of his liturgical hymns, reflecting the horrors of the

Second Crusade The Second Crusade (1147–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crus ...

. Many of his contemporaries such as

Isaac ben Samuel Isaac ben Samuel the Elder (c. 1115 – c. 1184), also known as the Ri ha-Zaken (Hebrew: ר"י הזקן), was a French tosafist and Biblical commentator. He flourished at Ramerupt and Dampierre, France in the twelfth century. He is the father ...

wrote about Rabbi Yoel referring to him with great admiration. Rabbi Yoel later died in 1200.

References

Tosafists Rabbis from Mainz 12th-century German rabbis 1110s births 1200 deaths {{Germany-rabbi-stub