Sepher ha-Terumah [Rabbinic Code]

BARUCH BEN ISAAC OF WORMS

Daniel Bomberg

Venice

1523

FIRST EDITION. Signatures of owners M. Gaster and Abraham Mocatta, Anglo-Jewish notables. Extensive marginalia in several hands

Vinograd, Venice 91; Haberman, Bomberg 81; Adams B-326; Heller, The Sixteenth Century Hebrew Book pp. 166-7

Baruch ben Isaac of Worms (late 12th-early 13th century) was a member of the Tosafist school that thrived in France, having studied under R. Isaac of Dampierre. For this reason, relatively few German authorities are cited by him, while citations of the master Tosafists Rabbi Samuel ben Meir (RaSHBa”M) and Rabbi Jacob of Ramrupt (Rabbeinu Tam) abound in his work. One might say the “specialty” of Sepher ha-Terumah is its sustained treatment of the laws pertaining to Eretz Israel. The rulings of Sepher ha-Terumah were subsequent included in later halachic literature. Among those who invoke its authority are: Rabbis Isaac b. Moses (Or Zaru’a), Moses of Coucy (SeMa”G), Zedekiah Anav (Shibbolei ha-Leket), and Aaron of Lunel (Orchoth Chaim). Besides Sepher ha-Terumah, another work by the same author that has gained currency are the comments to Tractate Zevachim, which are printed in the standard editions of the Talmud simply as “Tosafoth.” See EJ, Vol. IV, col. 278 Recently, Simcha Emmanuel has shown that the appellation R. Baruch of Worms is a misnomer. A careful examination of R. Baruch's biography reveals that the connection to the location of Worms is fallacious. See S. Emmanuel, “Le-Toldotav shel R. Baruch bar Isaac, in Tarbiz vol. 69 (2000) pp. 423-40