Type: Commentary
Other Commentaries
The printers of the Vilna Talmud printed several newly discovered commentaries in the outer margins of their edition. These included some of the most important of the early medieval works. Towards this end, scholars were sent to European libraries (including that of the Vatican in Rome) in order to copy out these lost treasures of Jewish religious literature.
Since none of these commentaries covered the full text of the Talmud, different ones were printed with the individual tractates.
The additional commentaries include the following:
Type: Commentary
- Rabbenu Hananel:
Sample Text in Translation
Author
Rabbi Hananel ben Hushiel.
Dates
c. 990-1050
Place
Kairowan, Tunisia.
Description
Rabbenu Hananel was believed to transmit many of the traditional interpretations of the Babylonian "Ge'onim," the heirs to the Babylonian academies in the post-Talmudic era.
Rather than offer complete explanations of every detail, Rabbenu Hananel presents a paraphrased summary of the main arguments. He omits most of the non-legal sections (Aggadah).
A distinctive feature of this commentary is the presentation of the parallel passages from the Palestinian ("Jerusalem") Talmud alongside the Babylonian.
Type: Commentary
- Sefer ha-Mafteah (="unlocking the secrets of the Talmud"):
Author
Rabbi Nissim [ben Jacob]
Dates
Died c. 1062
Place
Kairowan, Tunisia
Description
Identifies obscure allusions to other places in Talmudic literature.
Type: Commentary
- Tosafot Yeshanim:
Author
Various authors and editors
Dates
Various times, particularly from the 13th century
Place
Mostly Germany, France.
Description
Various alternative versions of the Tosafot from different sources.
Type: Commentary
- The Commentary of Rabbenu Gershom ("The Mainz Commentary"):
Author
Students of Rabbi Gershom ben Judah "the Light of the Exile"
Dates
Rabbi Gershom died in 1028. These are apparently students' notes compiled during the first half of the 11th century.
Place
Mainz, Germany
Description
Commentaries to nine Talmudic tractates have been preserved. Among their compilers were several of the teachers of Rashi. They thus provide us with some indication of Rashi's sources and the state of Talmudic study before Rashi's great commentary.
Type: Commentary
- Tosefot RI"D:
Author
Rabbi Isaiah [ben Mali] diTrani (the Elder). Acronym: "RI"D."
Dates
13th century
Place
Trani, Italy
Description
This is actually a legal compendium summarizing and analyzing the laws that appear in the Talmud.
Type: Commentary
- Shittah Mequbbetzet (="anthology of commentaries"):
Author
Rabbi Bezalel [ben Abraham] Ashkenazi
Dates
16th century
Place
Egypt and Jerusalem
Description
Rabbi Bezalel assembled many rare and valuable manuscripts of the Talmud and its early commentators in his Shittah Mequbbetzet (the original title was Asefat Zeqenim (="the assembly of the elders"). The version that is printed in the Talmud editions to the Order Qodoshim consists primarily of variant readings to the texts of the Talmud, Rashi and Tosafot.
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