Joseph Trani or Joseph di Trani was a Talmudist of the latter part of the 16th century who lived in Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. By contemporary scholars he was called Mahrimat (Hebrew: מהרימ"ט), and regarded as one of the foremost Talmudists of his time. Today he is more widely known as Maharit (Hebrew: מהרי"ט).

He was the author of She'elot u-Teshubot (responsa), a work in three parts: part i comprises 152 responsa

Responsa

Responsa comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them.-In the Roman Empire:Roman law recognised responsa prudentium, i.e...

, together with a general index (Constantinople, 1641); part ii consists of 111 responsa in the order of the first three parts of the ritual codex (Venice, 1645); part iii contains responsa to the fourth part of the ritual codex, together with novellæ to the tractate Ḳiddushin, and supercommentaries on RaN

Nissim of Gerona

Nissim ben Reuven of Girona, Catalonia was an influential talmudist and authority on Jewish law. He was one of the last of the great Spanish medieval talmudic scholars. He is also known as the RaN .-Biography:The Ran was born in Barcelona, Catalonia...

's and Alfasi

Isaac Alfasi

for other Al-Fasi's see Al-Fasi disambiguationIsaac ben Jacob Alfasi ha-Cohen - also known as the Alfasi or by his Hebrew acronym Rif , was a Talmudist and posek...

's commentaries on the tractates Ketubot and Ḳiddushin (ib. 1645). The entire work appeared in Fürth

Fürth

The city of Fürth is located in northern Bavaria, Germany in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the two cities being only 7 km apart....

 in 1764. Joseph also published novellæ to the treatises Shabbat

Shabbat (Talmud)

Shabbat is first tractate in the Order of Moed, of the Mishnah and Talmud. The tractate consists of 24 chapters.The tractate primarily deals with laws relating to Shabbat , and the activities prohibited on Shabbat and distinguishes between Biblical prohibitions and Rabbinic prohibitions...

, Ketubot, and Kiddushin (Sudzilkov, 1802), and the responsa which were embodied in Alfandari

Alfandari

Alfandari, Alphandéry is a family of eastern rabbis prominent in the 17th and 18th centuries, found in Smyrna, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. The name may be derived from a Spanish locality, perhaps from Alfambra...

's Maggid me-Reshit (Constantinople, 1710). He left several commentaries in manuscript on Alfasi, on Maimonides

Maimonides

Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...

' Yad, and on R. Nathan's Aruk.

In 2008, Trani's grave was discovered in Safed

Safed

Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...

 by the noted bibliophile and book dealer Shlomo Epstein, near the grave of Rabbi Moshe Alshich

Moshe Alshich

Moshe Alshich, also spelled Alshech, , known as the Alshich Hakadosh , was a prominent rabbi, preacher, and biblical commentator in the latter part of the 16th century....

. Although the Maharit died and was buried in Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

, his sons later transferred his remains to Safed as he had requested so that he could be interred near his father, Moshe di Trani.