Isaac ben Jacob ha-Lavan
Encyclopedia
Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob or Yitzhak ben Yaakov, nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....

d "ha-Lavan" or "the white" was a 12th century rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

 of Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

. He was a Tosafist and liturgical poet who flourished at Prague in the late 12th century. He was the brother of the renowned traveler Petachiah of Regensburg. He was among the earliest of the tosafists ("ba'ale tosafot yeshanim"), a contemporary of Rabbi Eleazar of Metz, and a pupil of Rabbenu Tam ("Sefer ha-Yashar" §704; Solomon Luria
Solomon Luria
Solomon Luria was one of the great Ashkenazic poskim and teachers of his time. He is known for his work of Halakha, Yam Shel Shlomo, and his Talmudic commentary Chochmat Shlomo...

, responsa 29). According to Recanati (Responsa, No. 168), Isaac directed the yeshibah of Ratisbon. He also lived at Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...

 for a time ("Agur," 71b). Isaac is mentioned in the Tosafot (Yeb. 5a, 71a; Ket. 38b; Zeb. 73b; and frequently elsewhere), and Isaac ben Moses, in his "Or Zarua'," No. 739, quotes Isaac ben Jacob's commentary on Ketubot, a manuscript of which exists in the Munich Library (No. 317). He is also mentioned in a commentary to the Pentateuch written in the first half of the 13th century (Zunz, "Z. G." p. 80). There is a piyyuṭ
Piyyut
A piyyut or piyut is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, chanted, or recited during religious services. Piyyutim have been written since Temple times...

 signed "Isaac b. Jacob," whom Zunz ("Litcraturgesch." p. 313) supposes to be lsaac ben Jacob ha-Laban.

Sources

  • Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, i.;
  • Michael
    Heimann Joseph Michael
    Heimann Joseph Michael was a Hebrew bibliographer born at Hamburg. He showed great acuteness of mind in early childhood, had a phenomenal memory, and was an indefatigable student. He studied Talmudics and received also private instruction in all the branches of a regular school education...

    , Or ha- Ḥayyim, p. 507;
  • Zunz, Z. G. pp. 33, 42, 45, 80;
  • Grätz, Gesch. 3d ed., vi. 236;
  • Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 627.
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