Isaac Ben Sheshet - His Works

His Works

Isaac was the author of 518 responsa, to which great halakic value is attached by men like Joseph Caro, Jacob Berab, and many others. They are also of great historical importance as reflecting the conditions of Jewish life in the fourteenth century. In some of them are to be found details of the author's life; but unfortunately it is impossible to trace these chronologically, the original order of the responsa having been altered by the editors.

Although Isaac was very strict in his halakic decisions, he was far from being narrow-minded. He has nothing to say against secular knowledge; he disapproves the study of Aristotle only because the latter professed belief in the eternity of matter and denied God's providence. Isaac's responsa evidence a profound knowledge of the philosophical writings of his time. In one of them (No. 118) He explains the difference between the opinion of Levi ben Gershom (Ralbag) and that of Abraham ben David of Posquières (RABaD) on free will, and gives his own views on that complicated subject. His attitude to kabbalah was ambivalent. He advised against involving oneself with it unless one has received it from an adept; since he had not done so, he wrote, he could not address its claims.

Isaac's responsa were first published, under the title She'elot u-Teshubot, at Constantinople in 1546-47. A newer collection of the responsa was published under the title She'elot u-Teshubot ha-Ribash ha-Ḥadashot by David Frenkl at Muncas. In addition to these, he wrote novellæ on the Talmud which are no longer in existence. They are mentioned by him in his responsa (No. 106), and some of them, on the treatise Ketubot, are cited by Bezalel Ashkenazi in the Shiṭṭah Meḳubbeẓet. Azulai says that he has seen a manuscript containing a commentary on the Pentateuch by Isaac ben Sheshet.