View source for Isaac ben Samuel

{{Short description|12th-century French Tosafist}}
{{distinguish|Isaac ben Samuel of Acre}}
'''Isaac ben Samuel the Elder''' (c. 1115 – c. 1184), also known as the  '''Ri ha-Zaken''' (Hebrew: '''ר"י הזקן'''), was a French [[tosafist]] and Biblical commentator. He flourished at [[Ramerupt]] and [[Dampierre, Aube|Dampierre]], [[France]] in the twelfth century. He is the father of [[Elhanan ben Isaac of Dampierre]].

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== Biography ==
Through his mother he was a great-grandson of [[Rashi]] and through his father he was a grandson of [[Simhah ben Samuel of Vitry]]. He was surnamed "ha-Zaḳen" (the elder) to distinguish him from another tosafist of the same name, [[Isaac ben Abraham of Dampierre|Isaac ben Abraham]] surnamed "ha-Baḥur" (the younger). He is often quoted as R. Isaac of Dampierre.<ref>''Maimuniyyot'', Ma'akalot Asurot, No. 5; ''[[Zedekiah ben Abraham Anaw|Shibbolei ha-Leket]]'' 2:40</ref> but it seems that he lived first at [[Ramerupt]], where his maternal grandfather resided.<ref>''Sefer ha-Nayyar'', p.&nbsp;162; ''Maimuniyyot'', l.c.</ref> It was also at Ramerupt that he studied under his uncle [[Rabbeinu Tam]]<ref>Luria, Responsa, No. 29</ref> after the latter had gone to [[Troyes]], Isaac b. Samuel directed his school.

Isaac settled at Dampierre later, and founded there a flourishing and well-attended school.<ref>''Or Zarua'', 1:126</ref> It is said that he had sixty pupils, each of whom, besides being generally well grounded in [[Talmud]], knew an entire treatise by heart, so that the whole Talmud was stored in the memories of his pupils.<ref>Menahem, ''Tzedah la-Derek'', Introduction</ref> As he lived under [[Philip Augustus]], at whose hands the [[Jews]] suffered much, Isaac prohibited the buying of confiscated Jewish property, and ordered that any so bought be restored to its original owner. A particular interest attaches to one of his responsa, in which he relies on the oral testimony of his aunt, the wife of R. Isaac b. Meïr, and on that of the wife of R. [[Eleazar of Worms]], a great-granddaughter of Rashi.<ref>''Sefer ha-Nayyar'', p.&nbsp;167a</ref>

He died, according to [[Heinrich Graetz]]<ref>''Gesch''. vi. 210</ref> about 1200; according to [[Henri Gross]]<ref>''Gallia Judaica'', p.&nbsp;161, and "R. E. J." vii. 76</ref> between 1185 and 1195; and as he is known to have reached an advanced age, Gross supposes that he was not born later than 1115. On the other hand, Michael<ref>Heimann, Michael (1891) ''Or ha-Ḥayyim'', Frankfurt a. M. (in Hebrew), p.&nbsp;512</ref> says that as Isaac b. Samuel was spoken of as "the sainted master"<ref>''[[Baruch ben Isaac|Sefer ha-Terumah]]'', §§ 131, 161; [[Tosafot]], Zevachim 12b, 59b</ref> a term generally given to [[martyr]]s, he may have been killed at the same time as his son Elhanan (1184).

== Tosafot ==
Isaac's tosafot completed the commentary of Rashi on the Talmud ([[Vilna edition|Romm]] included in his edition of the Talmud the commentary of [[Abraham of Montpellier]] on Kiddushin, misidentified as Isaac's tosafot.). He also compiled and edited with great erudition all the preceding explanations to Rashi's commentary. His first collection was entitled ''Tosefot Yeshanim'', which, however, was afterward revised and developed. He is quoted on almost every page of the Tosafot, and in various works, especially in the ''Sefer ha-Terumah'' of his pupil [[Baruch ben Isaac]] of Worms, and in the ''Or Zarua'' of [[Isaac ben Moses of Vienna|Isaac ben Moses]].

Isaac is mentioned as a Biblical commentator by [[Judah ben Eliezer]],<ref>''Minḥat Yehudah'', p.&nbsp;8b</ref> who quotes also a work of Isaac's entitled ''Yalkutei Midrash'';<ref>ib. p.&nbsp;22a</ref> by [[Isaac ha-Levi]]; by [[Hezekiah ben Manoah]] in his ''Ḥazzeḳuni''; and in two other commentaries.<ref>see ''Kerem Ḥemed'', vii. 68</ref> Isaac is supposed to be the author also of several liturgical poems, of a piyyuṭ to the [[hafṭarah]],<ref>[[Landshuth]], ''Ammudei haAvodah'', p.&nbsp;108</ref> and of a piyyuṭ for [[Purim]].<ref>''[[Machzor Vitry]]'', No. 255; compare Luzzatto in Berliner's ''Magazin'', v. 27, Hebr. part</ref> The authorship of these piyyuṭim may, however, belong to the liturgical writer [[Isaac ben Samuel of Narbonne]].

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== References ==
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*{{JewishEncyclopedia|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=I&artid=243|article=Isaac ben Samuel ha-Zaken}} It has the following bibliography:
*[[Chaim Joseph David Azulai|Azulai]], Shem ha-Gedolim, i.;
*Heimann, Michael (1891) Or ha-Ḥayyim, Frankfurt a. M. (in Hebrew), pp.&nbsp;511–513;
*[[Isaac Hirsch Weiss]], Dor, iv. 286, 342, 349;
*[[Heinrich Grätz]], Gesch. 3d ed., vi. 210, 211, 214;
*[[Heinrich Gross (rabbi)|Gross, Heinrich]] (1897). ''Gallia Judaica : dictionnaire géographique de la France d'après les sources rabbiniques'' (in French). Paris: Leopold Cerf. pp.&nbsp;161–168, 638;
*idem, in R. E. J. vii. 76;
*[[Adolf Neubauer]], ib. xvii. 67;
*[[Leopold Zunz]], Z. G. p.&nbsp;33, passim.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Isaac Ben Samuel}}
[[Category:12th-century French rabbis]]
[[Category:French Tosafists]]
[[Category:Bible commentators]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:People from Ramerupt]]