Meir ben Samuel (), also known by the Hebrew

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

RaM for Rabbi Meir, was a French

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 tosafist, who was born in about 1060 in Ramerupt, and died after 1135. His father was an eminent scholar. Meir received his education in the Talmudical schools of

Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...

, his principal teachers being Isaac ben Asher ha-Levi and Eleazar ben Isaac of Mainz, with whom he later carried on a correspondence. Meir married

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...

's first daughter,

Jochebed According to the Bible, Jochebed (; , lit. ' YHWH is glory') was a daughter of Levi and the mother of Miriam, Aaron, and Moses. She was the wife of Amram, as well as his aunt. No details are given concerning her life. According to Jewish legend ...

, by whom he had three sons, Samuel ben Meïr (RaSHBaM), Isaac ben Meïr (RIBaM), and Jacob ben Meïr (Rabbenu Tam), all of them well-known scholars. According to Gross, Meir had also a fourth son, Solomon. Simhah ben Samuel of Vitry's son Samuel, father of the tosafist Isaac the Elder, was Meir's son-in-law. Meir's son Isaac, the often-quoted tosafist, died in the prime of life, leaving seven children.See Rabbenu Tam, ''Sefer ha-Yashar'', ed. Vienna, No. 616, p. 72b; ed. Rosenthal, No. 41, p. 71 This loss distressed the father to such an extent that he felt indisposed to answer a halakic question addressed to him by his friend Eleazar ben Nathan of Mainz. Meir lived to a very old age, and is sometimes designated as "the old" (''ha-yashish''). From the fact that his grandson, Isaac ben Samuel (born about 1120) speaks of religious customs which he found conspicuous in his grandfather's house, and from other indications, it has been concluded that Meir was still alive in 1135. Meir was one of the founders of the school of tosafists in northern France. Not only his son and pupil Rabbenu Tam, but also the tosafot quote his ritual decisions. It was Meir who changed the text of the Kol Nidre formula. A running commentary on a whole passage of the

Gemara The Gemara (also transliterated Gemarah, or in Yiddish Gemore) is an essential component of the Talmud, comprising a collection of rabbinical analyses and commentaries on the Mishnah and presented in 63 books. The term is derived from the Aram ...

, written by him and his son Samuel in the manner of Rashi's commentary, is printed at the end of the first chapter of Menachot. Meir composed also a seliḥah beginning "Avo lefanekha," which has been translated into German by Zunz, but which has no considerable poetic value.Zunz, ''Literaturgesch.'' p. 254; Landshuth, '' 'Ammudei haAbodah'', p. 168

Footnotes

Its bibliography: Chaim Azulai, ''Shem ha-Gedolim'', ed. Wilna, i. 118, No. 11; Heinrich Grätz, ''Gesch.'' vi. 68-144; Henri Gross, ''Gallia Judaica'', pp. 304, 542, 635; D. Rosin, Samuel ben Meïr als Schrifterklärer, in ''Jahresbericht des Jüdisch-Theologischen Seminars'', pp. 3 et seq., Breslau, 1880;

Isaac Hirsch Weiss Isaac (Isaak) Hirsch Weiss, also Eisik Hirsch Weiss () (9 February 1815 – 1 June 1905), was an Jews of Austria, Austrian Talmudist and historian of literature born at Velké Meziříčí, Groß Meseritsch, Habsburg Moravia. After having recei ...

, ''Dor'', iv. 336; Isaac Hirsch Weiss, ''Sefer Toledot Gedole Yisrael'' (Toledot R. Ya'aḳob ben Meïr), p. 4, Vienna, 1883; Leopold Zunz, ''Z. G.'' p. 31. {{DEFAULTSORT:Meir Ben Samuel 11th-century French rabbis 12th-century French rabbis 1060s births 1130s deaths People from Ramerupt French Tosafists