Rabbi Jonathan ben David ha-Kohen of Lunel (c. 1135 – after 1210) was a leading French

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 ...

. He was also known as Jonathan of Lunel, and was one of several Jewish scholars associated with the town, including

Meshullam ben Jacob Meshullam son of Jacob (or ''Meshullam HaKohen ben Ya'akov'') also known as ''Rabbeinu Meshullam hagodol'' (Rabbi Meshullem the great) was a Franco-Jewish Talmudist of the twelfth century CE.Heinrich Graetz History of the Jews - Page 113 He led a ...

of Lunel, Rabbi

Abraham ben David Abraham ben David ( – 27 November 1198), also known by the abbreviation RABaD (for ''Rabbeinu'' Abraham ben David) Ravad or RABaD III, was a Provençal ḥakham, an important commentator on the Talmud, ''Sefer Halachot'' of Isaac Alfasi, an ...

(the "RABaD") who taught in Lunel before moving to Posquières, and

Asher ben Meshullam 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'', p.74 A renowned Talmudist, he was a son of the well-known Meshullam ben Jac ...

of Lunel, the author of several rabbinical works.Jonathan of Lunel
/ref> Jonathan defended

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 ...

against the severe attacks of Abraham ben David of Posquières (RABaD), and at Jonathan's instance Maimonides sent to Lunel his '' Moreh Nebukim'', which

Samuel ibn Tibbon Samuel ben Judah ibn Tibbon ( – ), more commonly known as Samuel ibn Tibbon (, ), was a Jewish philosopher and doctor who lived and worked in Provence, later part of France. He was born about 1150 in Lunel, Hérault, Lunel (Languedoc), and die ...

translated into Hebrew. Jonathan is the author of a commentary on a work by Alfasi. About 1210, shortly before his departure for Palestine, where he went to with Tobiah ben Simson and Samuel ben Simson, he corresponded with Isaac ben Abraham of Dampierre, who had sent him a Talmudic responsum on a subject concerning the Holy Land.

References

Its bibliography: * I. Lattes, ''Sha'are Ziyyon'', p. 74; * Gross, in ''Monatsschrift'', 1874, p. 21; * Steinschneider, ''Hebr. Uebers.'' p. 416; * ''R. E. J.'' vi. 177. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jonathan Ben David Ha-Cohen Kohanim writers of Rabbinic literature French Orthodox rabbis 12th-century French rabbis 13th-century French rabbis

See also

References