The ''Book of Meat over Coals'' () is a lost halakhic work, first cited in the 11th century. Dozens quotes from it survive, some in printed books and some still in

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

Name

Some suggest that the name references a passage in 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 ...

about ''bishul yisrael'': "If a Jew places meat on coals, and a gentile comes and turns in over, the meat is permitted".

Yaakov ben Moshe Levi Moelin Yaakov ben Moshe Levi Moelin () (c. 1365 – September 14, 1427) was a Talmudist and ''posek'' (authority on Jewish law) best known for his codification of the customs (''minhagim'') of the German Jews. He is also known as Maharil () - the H ...

wrote: "The book is called ''Meat over Coals'' because its contents have the taste (a pun, Heb. ''ta'am'' means both literal "taste" and "good sense") of meat roasted over coals", an approach followed by

Chaim Yosef David Azulai Haim Yosef David Azulai ben Yitzhak Zerachia (; 1724 – 1 March 1806), commonly known as the Hida (also spelled Chida, the acronym of his name, ), was a Jerusalem born rabbinical scholar, a noted bibliophile, and a pioneer in the publication o ...

. According to

Abraham Berliner Abraham (Adolf) Berliner (2 May 1833 – 21 April 1915) (Hebrew: אברהם ברלינר) was a German theologian and historian, born in Obersitzko, in the Grand Duchy of Posen, Prussia. He was initially educated by his father, who was the teac ...

, "there can no question that the title is its lost

incipit The incipit ( ) of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of Musical note, notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin an ...

Authorship

The identity of the author is unknown. In one manuscript of the ''Greater'' ''Glosses to the

Mordechai Mordecai (; also Mordechai; , IPA: ) is one of the main personalities in the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. He is the cousin and guardian of Esther, who became queen of Persia under the reign of Ahasuerus (Xerxes I). Mordecai's loyalty and ...

'', it is attributed to a certain "Rav Bibi Gaon".Meat on coals
, from the book

The Early Sages of Ashkenaz ''The'' is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the ...

, by Professor Avraham Grossman A similarly-named rabbi, Bibai HaLevi, was gaon in

Sura A ''surah'' (; ; ) is an Arabic word meaning 'chapter' in the Quran. There are 114 ''suwar'' in the Quran, each divided into verses (). The ''suwar'' are of unequal length; the shortest ''surah'' ( al-Kawthar) has only three verses, while the ...

from 777 to 788, but the book cites

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 ...

from after his time.

Solomon ibn Adret Shlomo ben Avraham ibn Aderet ( or Solomon son of Abraham son of Aderet) (1235 – 1310) was a medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarl ...

attributes it to "Samuel haLevi" (perhaps

Samuel ibn Naghrillah Shmuel ibn Naghrillah (; ), mainly known as Shmuel HaNagid () and Isma'il ibn Naghrilla (993–1056), was a Jewish statesman, military commander, scholar, linguist and poet in medieval al-Andalus. He served as grand vizier of the Taifa of Granada ...

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 ...

), and a 16th-century tradition suggests the author was

Rabbeinu Tam Jacob ben Meir (1100 – 9 June 1171 (4 Tammuz)), best known as Rabbeinu Tam (), was one of the most renowned Ashkenazi Jewish rabbis and leading French Tosafists, a leading '' halakhic'' authority in his generation, and a grandson of Rashi. K ...

(perhaps an error,

Chananel ben Chushiel Chananel ben Chushiel or Ḥananel ben Ḥushiel (), an 11th-century Kairouanan rabbi and Talmudist, was in close contact with the last Geonim. He is best known for his commentary on the Talmud. Chananel is often referred to as Rabbeinu Chananel � ...

being meant).

Eleazar of Worms Eleazar of Worms (אלעזר מוורמייזא - also מגרמייזא of Garmiza or Garmisa) (c. 1176–1238), or Eleazar ben Judah ben Kalonymus, also sometimes known today as Eleazar Rokeach ("Eleazar the Perfumer" אלעזר רקח) from t ...

writes that "so decided

Yehudai ben Nahman Yehudai ben Nahman (or Yehudai Gaon; Hebrew: יהודאי גאון, sometimes: Yehudai b. Nahman) was the head of the yeshiva in Sura from 757 to 761, during the Geonic period of Judaism. He was originally a member of the academy of Pumbedita, b ...

in the ''Meat over Coals''"; according to Abraham Dziubas, this implies that Yehudai was the author, but

Salomon Buber Salomon (or Solomon) Buber (2 February 1827 – 28 December 1906) was a Jewish Galician scholar and editor of Hebrew works. He is especially remembered for his editions of Midrash and other medieval Jewish manuscripts, and for the pioneering res ...

believed the ''Meat over Coals'' had merely cited Yehudai. According to most researchers, the book was written in

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

, but Avraham Grossman claims it was written in

Ashkenaz Ashkenaz ( ''ʾAškənāz'') in the Hebrew Bible is one of the descendants of Noah. Ashkenaz is the first son of Gomer, and a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations. In rabbinic literature, the descendants of Ashkenaz were first associated ...

in the mid-11th century, and that the author may be

Yaakov ben Yakar Yaakov ben Yakar (990 – 1064) was a German Talmudist. He flourished in the first half of the 11th century. He was a pupil of Gershom ben Judah in Mainz, and is especially known as the teacher of Rashi, who characterizes him as ''Mori HaZaken'' (m ...

. Grossman cites the following evidence: * The book is mentioned only by rabbis from Germany and France * Some of the ideas in the book are ideas written by early sages of Ashkenaz, like Meshullam ben Kalonymos and Meshullam beRabbi Moshe. * Some of the sources cited in the book don't align the Babylonian school of rabbis. * Its writing style differs many times from the Babylonian writing style, especially in its use of the

first-person singular In linguistics, grammatical person is the grammatical distinction between deictic references to participant(s) in an event; typically, the distinction is between the speaker ( first person), the addressee ( second person), and others ( third pe ...

, while Babylonian rabbis wrote in first-person plural.

References

{{Authority control Lost Jewish texts Works of unknown authorship Rabbinic legal texts and responsa Jewish medieval literature Sifrei Kodesh