Isaac ben Jacob HaLavan. Tosafoth to Babylonian Tractate Yoma.

(TALMUD).

Italy

c. 1320-1350

Hebrew manuscript, written in an Italian-Aschkenazic semi-cursive hand on vellum and paper.

THE ONLY EXTANT MANUSCRIPT OF YITZCHAK BEN YA’AKOV HALAVAN’S TOSAFOTH ON TRACTATE YOMA. R. Yitzchak ben Ya’akov Halavan authored the Tosafoth of Tractates Yoma and Ketuvoth as they appear in our current Talmud editions. A native of Bohemia (Prague), he was known to have written responsa as well as composed piyutim. See E. E. Urbach, Ba’alei HaTosafoth (Jerusalem, 1986) pp. 219-21. The present manuscript contains the text of Tosafoth until Yoma 25a (as per the Vilna foliation) and was written by several hands. The text begins on 1v: “In the name of the Dweller upon High, I will begin to write the Tosafoth of Yoma of R. Yitzchok Halavan.” The period in which this manuscript was written can be determined by the watermark on the paper (a key), similar to Briquet 3777-3782. See H. Hirschfeld, Catalogue of the Hebrew Mss. of the Montefiore Library and of other Hebrew Mss. in the Jews’ College (London, 1904) no. 66. Provenance: Solomon Halberstam (shelf no. 164). Sotheby’s, Manuscripts from the Montefiore Endowment, 27th-28th October, 2004, Lot 59.