Rabbi Isaac ben Asher HaLevi or Riva is the earliest known Tosafist, son-in-law of Eliakim ben Meshullam and pupil of Rashi. He flourished in Speyer during the 11th century.
He is cited under the name of "Tosafot Riva," in the Temim De'im, in the printed tosafot (Sotah 17b), and in the Tosafot Yeshanin (Yoma 15a). They are frequently quoted without the name of their author. Isaac ben Asher also wrote a commentary on the Pentateuch, which is no longer in existence. It is cited in the Minchat Yehudah, and Jacob Tam made use of it in his Sefer ha-Yashar (p. 282).
Famous quotes containing the words isaac and/or ben:
“Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.”
—Bible: Hebrew Jacob, in Genesis, 27:11.
To his mother Rebekah, explaining how the blind Isaac might discover the ploy of his pretending to be Esau. “Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.” (25:27)
“For of fortunes sharp adversitee
The worst kynde of infortune is this,
A man to han ben in prosperitee,
And it remembren, whan it passed is.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340–1400)