Tosafot - History

History

The chief home of tosafot literature was incontestably France, for it began with Rashi's pupils, and was continued mainly by the heads of the French schools. It is true that, practically, tosafot began to be written in Germany at the same time as in France, but the French tosafists always predominated numerically. The first tosafot recorded are those written by Rashi's two sons-in-law, Meïr b. Samuel of Ramerupt (RaM) and Judah ben Nathan (RIBaN), and by a certain R. Joseph (Jacob Tam, "Sefer ha-Yashar," No. 252; "Haggahot Mordekai," Sanh., No. 696; see below). But their tosafot not being otherwise known, the actual father of the tosafot in France was undoubtedly Jacob b. Meïr Tam (Rabbeinu Tam), whose style was adopted by his successors. He wrote a great number of tosafot, many of which are to be found in his "Sefer ha-Yashar"; but not all, as many passages that are cited in the edited tosafot are not found in the work just mentioned. In Germany, at the same time, there flourished Isaac ben Asher ha-Levi (RIBA), leader of the German tosafists, who wrote numerous tosafot, which are mentioned by Abraham ben David ("Temim De'im," Nos. 158, 207-209), and which are very often cited in the edited tosafot (e.g., to Soṭah 17b). But Isaac ben Asher's tosafot were revised by his pupils, who, according to Jacob Tam ("Sefer ha-Yashar," No. 282), sometimes ascribed to their teacher opinions which were not his. Zedekiah b. Abraham ("Shibbole ha-Leḳeṭ," i., No. 225), however, refutes Jacob Tam's assertion.

The most prominent tosafist immediately after Jacob Tam was his pupil and relative Isaac ben Samuel ha-Zaḳen (RI) of Dampierre, whose tosafot form a part of the Tosafot Yeshanim (see below). Isaac was succeeded by his pupil Samson ben Abraham of Sens (d. about 1235), who, besides enriching the literature with his own compositions, revised those of his predecessors, especially his teacher's, and compiled them into the group known as the Tosafot of Sens. Samson's fellow pupil Judah b. Isaac of Paris (Sir Leon) was also very active; he wrote tosafot to several Talmudic treatises, of which those to Berakot were published at Warsaw (1863); some of those to 'Abodah Zarah are extant in manuscript. Among the many French tosafists deserving special mention was Samuel ben Solomon of Falaise (Sir Morel), who, owing to the destruction of the Talmud in France in his time, relied for the text entirely upon his memory (Meïr of Rothenburg, Responsa, No. 250).

The edited tosafot owe their existence particularly to Samson of Sens and to the following French tosafists of the thirteenth century: (1) Moses of Évreux, (2) Eliezer of Touques, and (3) Perez ben Elijah of Corbeil.

It has been said that the first German tosafist, Isaac b. Asher ha-Levi, was the head of a school, and that his pupils, besides composing tosafot of their own, revised his. In the thirteenth century the German schools were represented by Baruch ben Isaac, in Regensburg, and later by Meïr of Rothenburg; the Italian school was represented by Isaiah di Trani. If the tosafot of Asher b. Jehiel (d. 1328) are to be included, the tosafistic period extended through more than two centuries. When the fanaticism of the French monasteries and the bigotry of Louis IX. brought about the destruction of the Talmud, the writing of tosafot in France soon ceased.