The Tosafot or Tosafos (Hebrew: תוספות) are medieval commentaries on the Talmud. They take the form of critical and explanatory glosses, printed, in almost all Talmud editions, on the outer margin and opposite Rashi's notes. The authors of the Tosafot are known as Tosafists ("ba'ale ha-tosafot"); for a listing see List of Tosafists.
The word tosafot literally means "additions". For what reason these glosses are called "tosafot" is a matter of dispute among modern scholars.
Up to and including Rashi, the Talmudic commentators occupied themselves only with the plain meaning ("peshaṭ") of the text; but after the beginning of the twelfth century the spirit of criticism took possession of the teachers of the Talmud. Thus some of Rashi's continuators, as his sons-in-law and his grandson Samuel ben Meïr (RaSHBaM), while they wrote commentaries on the Talmud after the manner of Rashi's, wrote also glosses on it in a style peculiar to themselves. The chief characteristic of the Tosafot is that in spite of the great respect in which Rashi was held by the Tosafists, the latter freely corrected him. Besides, the Tosafot do not constitute a continuous commentary, but, like the "Dissensiones" to the Roman Code of the first quarter of the twelfth century, deal only with the difficult passages of the Talmudic text. Single sentences are explained by quotations which are taken from other Talmudic treatises and which seem at first glance to have no connection with the sentences in question. On the other hand, sentences which seem to be related and interdependent are separated and embodied in different treatises. It must be added that the Tosafot can be understood only by those who are well advanced in the study of the Talmud, for the most entangled discussions are treated as though they were simple. Glosses explaining the meaning of a word or containing a grammatical observation are very rare. The Tosafot may be considered from the point of view of a methodology of the Talmud. The rules are certainly not gathered together in one series, as they are, for instance, in Maimonides' introduction to the Mishnah; they are scattered in various parts, and their number is quite considerable. Neither are they stated in fixed terms; a generally accepted rule is followed by "This is the way of the Talmud" or "The Talmud usually declares." Sometimes the negative expression is found, "This is not the way of the Talmud." A frequently recurring rule is indicated by some such formula as "We find many like this." It must be borne in mind that what has been said hitherto concerns the general features of the Tosafot, and does not conflict with the fact that the writings of different tosafists differ in style and method. With regard to method, it should be said that the Tosafot of Touques (see below) concern particularly the casuistic interpretation of the traditional law, but do not touch halakic decisions.
The chief home of tosafot literature was incontestably France, for it began with Rashi's pupils, and was continued mainly by the heads of the French schools. It is true that, practically, tosafot began to be written in Germany at the same time as in France, but the French tosafists always predominated numerically. The first tosafot recorded are those written by Rashi's two sons-in-law, Meïr b. Samuel of Ramerupt (RaM) and Judah ben Nathan (RIBaN), and by a certain R. Joseph (Jacob Tam, "Sefer ha-Yashar," No. 252; "Haggahot Mordekai," Sanh., No. 696; see below). But their tosafot not being otherwise known, the actual father of the tosafot in France was undoubtedly Jacob b. Meïr Tam (Rabbeinu Tam), whose style was adopted by his successors. He wrote a great number of tosafot, many of which are to be found in his "Sefer ha-Yashar"; but not all, as many passages that are cited in the edited tosafot are not found in the work just mentioned. In Germany, at the same time, there flourished Isaac ben Asher ha-Levi (RIBA), leader of the German tosafists, who wrote numerous tosafot, which are mentioned by Abraham ben David ("Temim De'im," Nos. 158, 207-209), and which are very often cited in the edited tosafot (e.g., to Soṭah 17b). But Isaac ben Asher's tosafot were revised by his pupils, who, according to Jacob Tam ("Sefer ha-Yashar," No. 282), sometimes ascribed to their teacher opinions which were not his. Zedekiah b. Abraham ("Shibbole ha-Leḳeṭ," i., No. 225), however, refutes Jacob Tam's assertion.
The most prominent tosafist immediately after Jacob Tam was his pupil and relative Isaac ben Samuel ha-Zaḳen (RI) of Dampierre, whose tosafot form a part of the Tosafot Yeshanim (see below). Isaac was succeeded by his pupil Samson ben Abraham of Sens (d. about 1235), who, besides enriching the literature with his own compositions, revised those of his predecessors, especially his teacher's, and compiled them into the group known as the Tosafot of Sens. Samson's fellow pupil Judah b. Isaac of Paris (Sir Leon) was also very active; he wrote tosafot to several Talmudic treatises, of which those to Berakot were published at Warsaw (1863); some of those to 'Abodah Zarah are extant in manuscript. Among the many French tosafists deserving special mention was Samuel ben Solomon of Falaise (Sir Morel), who, owing to the destruction of the Talmud in France in his time, relied for the text entirely upon his memory (Meïr of Rothenburg, Responsa, No. 250).
The edited tosafot owe their existence particularly to Samson of Sens and to the following French tosafists of the thirteenth century: (1) Moses of Évreux, (2) Eliezer of Touques, and (3) Perez ben Elijah of Corbeil.
It has been said that the first German tosafist, Isaac b. Asher ha-Levi, was the head of a school, and that his pupils, besides composing tosafot of their own, revised his. In the thirteenth century the German schools were represented by Baruch ben Isaac, in Regensburg, and later by Meïr of Rothenburg; the Italian school was represented by Isaiah di Trani. If the tosafot of Asher b. Jehiel (d. 1328) are to be included, the tosafistic period extended through more than two centuries. When the fanaticism of the French monasteries and the bigotry of Louis IX. brought about the destruction of the Talmud, the writing of tosafot in France soon ceased.
The Tosafot quote principally Rashi (very often under the designation "ḳonṭres" [= "pamphlet", Rashi initially published his commentary in pamphlets]), many of the ancient authorities (as Kalonymus of Lucca, Nathan b. Jehiel, and R. Hananeel), some contemporary scholars (as Abraham b. David of Posquières, Maimonides, Abraham ibn Ezra, and others), and about 130 German and French Talmudists of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Many of the last-named are known as authors of general Talmudic works, as, for instance, Eliezer b. Nathan of Mainz, Judah of Corbeil, and Jacob of Coucy; but many of them are known only through their being quoted in the Tosafot, as in the case of an Eliezer of Sens, a Jacob of Orleans, and many Abrahams and Isaacs. Some are even mentioned but once, as Eliezer of "Pelire" [Falaise? Montpellier?] (Tos. B. B. 79b), Ephraim b. David (supposed contemporary of Judah Sir Leon; Tos. 'Ab. Zarah 39a), and one Hezekiah (Tos. B. B. 44b). A commentary on the Pentateuch entitled "Da'at Zeḳenim" (Leghorn, 1783) is attributed to the Tosafists. In form this commentary follows the style of the Tosafot; Rashi is often discussed, and sometimes corrected.
The earliest collection, compiled by Samson ben Abraham of Sens. It was one of the main sources for the Tosafot of Touques, which in turn underlies the present printed Tosafot ("Tosafot shelanu"). Passages from the Tosafot of Sens which did not find their way into the main collection are sometimes printed under the title of Tosafot Yeshanim.
Moses of Évreux, one of the most prolific tosafists, furnished glosses to the whole Talmud; they form a distinct group known as the Tosafot of Évreux. It may be presumed that the "Tosafot of R. Moses" mentioned by Mordecai b. Hillel ("Mordekai," on Sanh., No. 937) are identical with the tosafot just mentioned. According to Joseph Colon (Responsa, No. 52) and Elijah Mizraḥi ("Mayim 'Amuḳḳim," i., No. 37), Moses wrote his glosses on the margin of Isaac Alfasi's "Halakot," probably at the time of the burning of the Talmud.
Eliezer of Touques, of the second half of the thirteenth century, made a compendium of the Tosafot of Sens and of Évreux; this compendium is called the Tosafot of Touques, and forms the basis of the edited tosafot. Eliezer's own glosses, written on the margin, are known as the Tosafot Gillayon or Gilyon Tosafot. It must be premised, however, that the Tosafot of Touques did not remain untouched; they were revised afterward and supplemented by the glosses of later tosafists. Gershon Soncino, who printed these tosafot, declares that his ancestor Moses of Fürth, who lived in the middle of the fifteenth century, was a descendant in the fifth generation of Moses of Speyer, who is mentioned in the Tosafot of Touques. It is supposed that the last redactor of these tosafot was a pupil of Samson of Chinon.
Perez ben Elijah of Corbeil was one of the most active of the later tosafists. Besides supplying tosafot to several treatises, which are quoted by many old authorities and are included among the edited tosafot (and many of which were seen in manuscript by Azulai), he revised those of his predecessors. His pupils were not less active; their additions are known as the Tosafot of Perez b. Elijah's Pupils.
Mentioned in the novellae on Tamid ascribed to Abraham b. David. Zunz ("Z.G." p. 57) thinks that the Tosafot of Sens may be referred to under this title; but the fact that Abraham b. David was much earlier than Samson of Sens leads to the supposition that the glosses indicated are those of previous tosafists, as Jacob Tam, Isaac b. Asher ha-Levi, and Isaac b. Samuel ha-Zaḳen and his son.
Collection of halakic decisions gathered from the edited tosafot to thirty-six treatises—Nazir and Me'ilah being excepted—and generally printed in the margin of the Tosafot; in the later editions of the Talmud, after the text. These decisions number 5,931; of these 2,009 belong to the treatise Berakot and the order Mo'ed; 1,398 to Niddah and the order Nashim; 1,503 to Neziḳin; and 1,021 to Ḳodashim. The decisions contained in the tosafot to Shabbat, Pesaḥim, Giṭṭin, Ketubot, Baba Ḳamma, Baba Meẓi'a, Baba Batra, and Ḥullin number fully one-half of those recognized as authoritative. The compiler of these decisions can not be identified with certainty; Asher b. Jehiel, his son Jacob b. Asher, and Ezekiel, uncle of Eliezer of Touques, are given by different authorities. Jacob Nordhausen, also, is known to have compiled tosafot decisions; in fact, references to two groups of Pisḳe Tosafot are found in the works of the later casuists.
This term is used by Joseph Colon (Responsa, No. 72) and by Jacob Baruch Landau ("Agur," § 327), and may apply to Talmudic novellae by Spanish authors. Jeshuah b. Joseph ha-Levi, for instance ("Halikhot 'Olam," § 327), applies the term "tosafot" to the novellae of Isaac ben Sheshet.
The tosafot which have been published with the text of the Talmud ever since its earliest edition (see Talmud, Editions of). They extend to thirty-eight treatises of the Babylonian Talmud. Most of the treatises are covered by the Tosafot of Touques, some by the Tosafot of Sens; many are provided with the tosafot of various authors, revised by Perez b. Elijah's school. The authorship of the tosafot to seventeen treatises only can be established with certainty:
The tosafot to Mo'ed Ḳaṭon were written by a pupil of a certain R. Isaac; the author of the tosafot to Ḥagigah wrote tosafot to other treatises also. Those to Ta'anit belong to the post-tosafot period, and differ in style from those to other treatises.
Quoted by Joseph Colon (Responsa, Nos. 5, 31) and Judah Minz (Responsa, No. 10). The term may designate either the tosafot of Samuel b. Meïr and Moses of Évreux, or glosses to Alfasi's Halakot.
Mentioned by Joseph Solomon Delmedigo (Nobelot Ḥokmah, Preface) and Solomon Algazi (Gufe Halakot, No. 195), the latter quoting these tosafot to Baba ḳamma. But as the same quotation is made by Bezaleel Ashkenazi (Shiṭṭah Meḳubbeẓet, to Baba Ḳamma) and ascribed to a pupil of Perez ben Elijah, Azulai (Shem ha-Gedolim, ii.) concludes that these tosafot originated in Perez b. Elijah's school. Still, Mordecai b. Hillel (Mordekai, B. B. on No. 886) mentions a R. Judah of Gornish, and Abraham ibn Akra (Meharere Nemerim, Venice, 1599) reproduces Talmudic novellae by "M. of Gornish" (Embden gives "Meïr of Gornish" in the Latin translation of the catalogue of the Oppenheim Library, No. 667). Manuscript No. 7 of the Günzburg collection bears the superscription "Tosafot of Gornish to Yebamot," and in these tosafot French and German rabbis are quoted. Manuscript No. 603 of the same collection contains also the Tosafot of Gornish and novellae by Judah Minz, and fragments of Gornish tosafot are found in manuscripts in other libraries.
Different theories have been advanced with regard to the name "Gornish." According to S. Schechter (Jew. Chron. May 4, 1888), it is a corruption of "Mayence," while H. Adler thinks it a corruption of "Norwich".[1] Gross (l.c.) thinks that Gornish may be identical with Gournay, in France, and that "M. of Gornish," apparently the author of the Tosafot of Gornish, may be Moses of Gornish and identical with the Moses of גריינץ mentioned in the Tosafot of Sens (to Pesaḥim). It may be added that in the supplement to Zacuto's Yuḥasin (p. 164a, Cracow, 1581) a David of "Durnish" occurs.
Tosafot which are neither of Sens nor of Touques. They are so called by Bezaleel Ashkenazi; he included many fragments of them in his Shiṭṭah Meḳubbeẓet, to Baba Meẓi'a, Nazir, etc.
Name sometimes applied to the recensions of Perez b. Elijah or to the tosafot of Jehiel of Paris (Bezaleel Ashkenazi, l.c.; notes to "Sha'are Dura," § 57; and many other authorities).
This group comprises four smaller ones: (1) the general tosafot of Sens, including those appearing among the edited tosafot; (2) the earlier unedited tosafot (for example, those to Ḳiddushin by Isaac b. Samuel ha-Zaḳen of Dampierre, and those to 'Abodah Zarah by his son Elhanan b. Isaac); these sometimes appear separately under the title of Tosafot ha-Ri; (3) a collection of old tosafot published by Joseph Jessel b. Wolf ha-Levi in "Sugyot ha-Shas" (Berlin, 1736); (4) various tosafot found in ancient manuscripts, as the tosafot to Ḥullin written in 1360, the manuscript of which is in the Munich Library (No. 236). In the collection published by Joseph Jessel b. Wolf ha-Levi (No. 3), besides the old tosafot to Yoma by Moses of Coucy (comp., however, Israel Isserlein, "Terumat ha-Deshen," No. 94, who declares they belong to the Tosafot of Sens), there are single tosafot to sixteen treatises—Shabbat, Rosh ha-Shanah, Megillah, Giṭṭin, Baba Meẓi'a, Menaḥot, Bekorot, 'Erubin, Beẓah, Ketubot, Ḳiddushin, Nazir, Baba Batra, Horayot, Keritot, and Niddah. In the Vilna edition of the Talmud edited by Romm the "old tosafot" to several treatises are printed.
By Rabbi Isaiah di Trani.
A small collection of tosafot composed by rabbis from England.
A commentary in tosafot style, and largely dependent on the earlier tosafot collections, composed by Asher ben Jehiel. These, together with the Hiddushim of Nahmanides and others, were studied by the Sephardi Jews instead of the normal Tosafot.
Of the great number of tosafists, only forty-four are known by name, although many of are known only through citations. For a complete list, see Tosafists.
The Tosafot shelanu are printed in most Talmud editions, in the column farther from the binding. The Vilna edition also includes tosafot from other collections, such as Tosafot Yeshanim, Tosafot ha-Ri and Tosafot ha-Rid on a few tractates. The Piske Tosafot (decisions of the Tosafot) are printed at the end of each tractate.
Complete sets of the Tosafot ha-Rosh and the Tosafot of Rabbi Peretz are published separately, as are individual volumes from the Tosafot Yeshanim and a few others. The most recent editions of the Talmud, such as the Friedmann edition published by Oz we-Hadar, incorporate these collections at the back of each volume, in a synoptic fashion. Most of the other collections remain in manuscript or in the form of quotations in later works.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Joseph Jacobs and M. Seligsohn (1901–1906). "Tosafot". Jewish Encyclopedia. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=276&letter=T.