Background
Jacob ben Meir was born in the French country village of Ramerupt, in the Aube département of northern-central France, to Meir ben Shmuel and Yocheved, daughter of Rashi.
(Presenting, for the most part, talmudic, midrashic and ha...)
Presenting, for the most part, talmudic, midrashic and halakhic discussions according to the order of the Torah. Based on ms Moscow Guenzburg 362/8 (Candia 1400), whose colophon describes the work as: pesakim shel Rabbenu Tam she-hem kemo Tosafot al Perush Rabbenu Shelomoh. The manuscript begins with the phrase: athil hiddushim al ha-Torah l'Rabbenu Tam. Supported by ms Paris 167/2 (Byzantium 1443). All the Torah comments are almost within halakhic or talmudic context. A unique Tosafot composition to the Torah, undoubtedly one of the earliest composed by the Tosafists. With a scholarly introduction supporting the identity of the work to Rabbenu Tam. With variant readings and erudite notes and commentary, placing the work within its talmudic context and comparing it to other Tosafot-like commentaries to the Torah, and detailed indices.
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(For the past approximately one thousand years Rashi has b...)
For the past approximately one thousand years Rashi has been the teacher of the Jewish people. In fact, Jewish life without Rashi is unimaginable. This series of tapes discusses the life, times and history of Rashi and his descendants. Here you will gain significant understanding of the development of Ashkenazic Jewry and the feeling of pride and strength of heritage which comes with knowledge of and association to great people.
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Jacob ben Meir was born in the French country village of Ramerupt, in the Aube département of northern-central France, to Meir ben Shmuel and Yocheved, daughter of Rashi.
His primary teachers were his father and his brother, Shmuel ben Meir, known as Rashbam. His other brothers were Isaac, known as the Rivam, and Solomon the Grammarian. He married Miriam, the sister of R. Shimshon ben Yosef of Falaise, Calvados, although she may have been his second wife.
His reputation as a legal scholar spread far beyond France. Avraham ibn Daud, the Spanish chronicler of the sages, mentioned Rabbeinu Tam in his Sefer HaKabbalah, but not Rashi. Rabbeinu Tam's work is also cited by Rabbi Zerachya HaLevi, a Provençal critic. He also received questions from students throughout France and from the Italian communities of Bari and Otranto.
Rabbeinu Tam gave his Beth Din the title of "the generation's significant court", and indeed, he is known for communal enactments improving Jewish family life, education, and women's status. At times, he criticised Halakhic opponents, notably in his controversies with Meshullam of Melun and Efraim of Regensburg.
Legend has it that when Rashi was holding his infant grandson, the baby touched the tefillin that were on Rashi's head. Rashi predicted that this grandson would later disagree with him about the order of the scripts that are put in the head tefillin. Regardless of the episode's veracity, Rabbeinu Tam did disagree with the opinion of his antecedent. Today, both "Rashi tefillin" and "Rabbeinu Tam tefillin" are produced: the Shulchan Aruch requires wearing Rashi's version and recommends that God-fearing Jews wear both in order to satisfy both halakhic opinions. However:
"It is worth noting that the Shulchan Aruch ... rules that Rabbeinu Tam Tefillin should be worn only by one who is known to be a very pious person; the Mishnah Berurah ... explains that it is a sign of haughtiness for anyone else to do this because the accepted practice is to wear Rashi Tefillin."
However, many Sephardic and chasidic Jews wear Rabbeinu Tam's Tefillin (in addition to wearing Rashi's) per opinions presented in the Shulchan Aruch and its extensive commentaries authored throughout the early-modern and modern era. The rise and articulation of chasidic philosophy has conflated the kabbalistic and halakhic aspects of Rabbeinu Tam's position, popularizing the custom to wear both pairs every day. Wearing Rabbeinu Tam tefillin is an almost universal custom among the many and diverse communities that follow the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and his students.
Another halakhic disagreement between Rabbeinu Tam and Rashi concerns the placement of the mezuzah. Rashi rules that it should be mounted on the doorpost in a vertical position; Rabbeinu Tam holds that it should be mounted horizontally. In a compromise solution, many Ashkenazi Jews place the mezuzah on the door in a slanted position. Sephardi Jews mount the mezuzah vertically, per the opinions of Rashi, Maimonides, and the Shulchan Aruch.
In the field of Hebrew poetry the importance of R. Tam is not slight. He was influenced by the poetry of the Spaniards, and is the chief representative of the transition period, in Christian lands, from the old "payyeṭanic" mode of expression to the more graceful forms of the Spanish school. According to Zunz, he composed the following pieces for the synagogue: several poems for the evening prayer of Sukkot and of Shemini Atzeret; a hymn for the close of Sabbath on which a wedding is celebrated; a hymn for the replacing of the Torah rolls in the Ark on Simchat Torah; an "ofan" in four metric strophes; four Aramaic reshut; It must, however, be remarked that there was a synagogal poet by the name of Jacob ben Meïr (Levi) who might easily have been confounded with the subject of this article, and therefore Tam's authorship of all of these poems is not above doubt.
The short poems which sometimes precede his responsa also show great poetic talent and a pure Hebrew style. When Abraham ibn Ezra was traveling through France R. Tam greeted him in verse, whereupon Ibn Ezra exclaimed in astonishment, "Who has admitted the French into the temple of poetry?". Another work of his in metric form is his poem on the accents, which contains forty-five strophes riming in; it is found in various libraries (Padua, Hamburg, Parma), and is entitled Maḥberet. Luzzatto has given the first four strophes in Kerem Ḥemed, and Halberstam has printed the whole poem in Kobak's "Jeschurun".
(Presenting, for the most part, talmudic, midrashic and ha...)
(For the past approximately one thousand years Rashi has b...)
Rabbeinu Tam was the son of Meir ben Shmuel and Yocheved, daughter of Rashi.
