Isaiah ben Elijah di Trani

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ISAIAH BEN ELIJAH DI TRANI

ISAIAH BEN ELIJAH DI TRANI (the Younger, "Riaz" ; d. c. 1280), rabbinical scholar; grandson of Isaiah b. Mali di *Trani (the Elder). Little is known of his life, and even his works have remained mostly in manuscript. His novellae are known mainly from quotations in Joshua Boaz' Shiltei ha-Gibborim on the Halakhot of *Alfasi. Isaiah's halakhic works on a few tractates (Berakhot and Shabbat (Jerusalem, 1964) and on Eruvin, Pesaḥim, Yoma, and Sukkah (ibid., 1966)) have been published and several fragments appear in the Me'at Devash of D. Sassoon (1928). He frequently quotes his grandfather, and his own Kunteres ha-Re'ayot, apparently an extensive work in which he enlarged on his brief decisions. In his halakhic works Isaiah disputes philosophical interpretations while he deals with the aggadah. Isaiah adopted a less tolerant attitude toward philosophy and the general sciences than did his grandfather. The Perush Rabbenu Yeshayah, printed in Mikra'ot Gedolot, as well as the commentaries on the Prophets and Hagiographa recently published as the work of his grandfather, should apparently be ascribed to him.

bibliography:

Guedemann, Gesch Erz, 2 (1884), 189ff. (= A.S. Friedberg, Ha-Torah ve-ha-Ḥayyim (1898), 165–8); Joel, in: ks, 10 (1933/34), 545–52; A.I. Wertheimer, Perush Nevi'im u-Khetuvim le-Rabbenu Yeshayah ha-Rishon mi-Trani (1959), 11–56.

[Israel Moses Ta-Shma]

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Isaiah ben Elijah di Trani

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