Judah ben Barzillai (Albargeloni) was a Catalan

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 ...

of the end of the 11th and the beginning of the 12th century. Almost nothing is known of his life. He came of a very distinguished family, on account of which he was not seldom called "ha-Nasi" (the prince), a title of honor borne also by his descendants in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. It is very doubtful if Judah was a pupil of Isaac ben Reuben, as some have asserted; nor can the names of his own pupils, and whether Abraham ben Isaac of Lunel (RABaD II) was among them, be determined. It is certain that Abraham ben Isaac knew Judah personally and consulted him in difficult cases. Judah once had a controversy with his learned fellow citizen Abraham ben Ḥiyya. The latter, it seems, tried to postpone a wedding because the stars displayed unfavorable omens, while Judah held such a course to be contrary to law, since the regarding of omens is forbidden in the

Scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and ...

Works

Judah was one of the greatest codifiers of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. With the exception of a few fragments, his

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 ...

writings have been lost. However, they are often cited as authoritative by Rabad II, Isaac ben Abba Mari (for both of whom he is simply "HaRav," or "HaRav haMeḥabber"),

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 ...

(RABaD III), and Zerahiah ben Isaac ha-Levi. The works of

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 ...

and

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 ...

, published a century later, caused Judah's codex to be neglected, although individual scholars down to the 16th century made use of it. From quotations found in works of more than forty authors it is seen that Judah codified the whole law, ritual and civil. His ''Sefer haIttim,'' of which manuscript fragments exist, is cited by name. The fragments contain regulations for

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

, but the book originally included not only regulations for the Sabbath, festivals, and

Rosh Chodesh In Judaism, Rosh Chodesh or Rosh Hodesh (; trans. ''Beginning of the Month''; lit. ''Head of the Month'') is a minor holiday observed at the beginning of every month in the Hebrew calendar, marked by the birth of a new moon. Rosh Chodesh is obs ...

, but also nearly all the material treated of in the first part of the

Ṭur ''Arba'ah Turim'' (), often called simply the ''Tur'', is an important Halakha#Codes of Jewish law, Halakhic code composed by Yaakov ben Asher (Cologne, 1270 – Toledo, Spain c. 1340, also referred to as ''Ba'al Ha-Turim''). The four-part stru ...

, and probably even more than this. Part of the ''Sefer haIttim'' is printed in Coronel's ''Zekher Natan''. The part of the codex which deals with marriage laws and kindred topics is called by some ''Seder Nashim''; by others, ''Yiḥus She'er Bosar.'' The civil law was contained in the ''Sefer ha-Dinim'' (so read by Halberstam instead of ''Sefer ha-Dayyanim''), which was divided into five "gates," and the extent of which may be judged from that portion of it published as ''Sefer ha-Sheṭarot'' embracing 138 pages, and treating of the different forms of contracts according to rabbinical law. Besides this

work, Judah wrote a detailed commentary on the ''

Sefer Yetzirah ''Sefer Yetzirah'' ( ''Sēp̄er Yəṣīrā'', ''Book of Formation'', or ''Book of Creation'') is a work of Jewish mysticism. Early commentaries, such as the ''Kuzari'', treated it as a treatise on mathematical and linguistic theory, as opposed t ...

.'' Like most commentaries on ''Sefer Yetzirah'', that by Judah helps little to an understanding of the text; on the contrary, it contains Judah's own rather diffuse, half-mystical, half-philosophical theological discussions. The author betrays an astonishing familiarity with the

Talmudic 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 ...

Midrashic ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

literature, and gives extracts from works of the

Geonim ''Geonim'' (; ; also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated Gaonim, singular Gaon) were the presidents of the two great Talmudic Academies in Babylonia, Babylonian Talmudic Academies of Sura Academy , Sura and Pumbedita Academy , Pumbedita, in t ...

which are otherwise unknown. Judah was acquainted with the philosophical writings of Saadia and of Samuel ben Hophni, but not with those of

Solomon ibn Gabirol Solomon ibn Gabirol or Solomon ben Judah (, ; , ) was an 11th-century Jews, Jewish poet and Jewish philosopher, philosopher in the Neoplatonism, Neo-Platonic tradition in Al-Andalus. He published over a hundred poems, as well as works of biblical ...

and Baḥya. He shows little talent for dealing with theological or philosophical subjects. He argues strenuously against the charge made by the Karaites that the Rabbis favored anthropomorphisms. The ''Sefer Yetzirah'' was first published by Halberstam in 1885 (Berlin). A treatise on the preparation of

Torah scroll A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue file:Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Interior, Tora Cases.jpg">Torah cases at Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue, Mumbai, India ...

sPublished by E. Adler in ''J. Q. R.'' ix. 681-716 is attributed to Judah, but without sufficient reason. In his commentary to ''Sefer Yetzirah'' Judah mentions another of his own works, ''Zemanim,'' about which nothing further is known. To judge from certain allusions of Judah it would seem that he wrote a commentary also on the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

; at any rate he had planned such a work.

References

Its bibliography: *

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, in ''J. Q. R.'' x. 381-382 ** idem, in ''R. E. J.'' xvii. 272-284 * E. Adler, ib. ix. 669-681 * Halberstam, in the introduction to Judah ben Barzillai's commentary on the Sefer Yeẓirah and Sefer ha-Sheṭarot ** idem, in ''J. Q. R.'' x. 165-167 * David Kaufmann, in additions to Judah's Yeẓirah commentary * J. H. Weiss, in ''

Ha-Asif ''Ha-Asif'' () was a Hebrew language, Hebrew-language yearly journal, published in Warsaw by Nahum Sokolow, Naḥum Sokolow. Its first volume appeared in 1884; it continued to appear regularly every year until 1889, when the fifth volume came out ...

,'' iv. 221-225 *

Leopold Zunz Leopold Zunz (—''Yom Tov Tzuntz'', —''Lipmann Zunz''; 10 August 1794 – 17 March 1886) was the founder of academic Judaic Studies ('' Wissenschaft des Judentums''), the critical investigation of Jewish literature, hymnology and ritual. Nah ...

, in ''Catalogus ... Lipsiensis'', p. 321 {{DEFAULTSORT:Judah Ben Barzillai 11th-century Catalan rabbis Talmudists 11th-century births 12th-century deaths 12th-century Catalan rabbis