Joseph ben Issachar Baer of Prague

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JOSEPH BEN ISSACHAR BAER OF PRAGUE

JOSEPH BEN ISSACHAR BAER OF PRAGUE (end of 16th century), rabbi and author. Joseph was a pupil of Mordecai Jaffe and of Judah Loew b. Bezalel (the Maharal of Prague). He was the author of Yosef Da'at (Prague, 1609), a supercommentary on Rashi's commentary to the Pentateuch, in whichhe corrects mistakes in the text and gives illustrations for understanding it. The work also includes some notes on the biblical commentary of Jacob b. Asher. In the introduction Joseph mentions his commentary to the Beḥinat Olam of Jedaiah ha-Penini Bedersi, which has not been published. Alei Ayin, a reference work to the Ein Ya'akov of Jacob Ibn Ḥabib, has also been attributed to him, though this is doubtful. It is stated that Joseph used a manuscript of Rashi's commentary on the Pentateuch dating from the year 1300.

bibliography:

Zunz, Gesch, 285; Ghirondi-Neppi, 144; Neubauer, Cat, nos. 3697, 5928, 6463, 5566; S. Hock, Die Familien Prags (1892), 210f.; Fuenn, Keneset, 498.

[Yehoshua Horowitz]

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Joseph ben Issachar Baer of Prague

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