(RIBa’SH). Teshuboth HaRav [responsa].

ISAAC BEN SHESHETH PERFET

Eliezer Soncino

Constantinople

1546

First Edition. Title within four-part ornamental border. A fine, wide-margined copy.

Vinograd, Const. 193; Yaari, Const. 145.

One of the leading scholars of his day, the Riba”sh was a disciple of R. Nissim Gerondi and a colleague of Don Hasdai Crescas. He left his native Spain in 1391 when the great massacres broke out and settled in Algiers. His Teshuvoth Harav contains 518 responsa, dealing with all phases of Halachic law. Unlike his predecessors, the Riba”sh wrote his responsa at length, basing his decisions on specific documentation from the sources. The collection is particularly important for the social history of the Jews in 14th-century Spain and North Africa. Both Vinograd and Yaari provide erroneous pagination, see J. Hacker, Areshet V, p. 483.