Aharon HaLevi

Not to be confused with Aaron ha-Levi of Barcelona.

Aharon ben Joseph HaLevi (Hebrew: אהרון הלוי‎‎; 1235 – c. 1290), known by his Hebrew acronym Ra'aH (רא"ה), was a medieval rabbi, Talmudic scholar and Halakhist.

Aaron ha-Levi was born in Girona, Spain in 1235 to his father Rabbi Joseph ha-Levi, son of Rabbi Benveniste ha-Levi, son of Rabbi Joseph ha-Levi, who was the son of Rabbi Zerachiah ha-Levi of Girona Baal Hamaor. The Ra'ah's mother Clara, was a granddaughter of Rabbi Aaron of Lunel who was the son of Rabbi Meshullam ben Jacob of Lunel ("Rabbenu Meshullam hagadol").

Aaron ha-Levi studied under his father Rabbi Joseph ha-Levi and brother Rabbi Pinchas ben Joseph ha-Levi, as well as Nachmanides and was a colleague of Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet (1235–1310). He published critical notes on the Rashba's Torat HaBayith, which he entitled Bedek HaBayith. He also wrote a commentary on the Talmud, select parts of which have been published.

The sixteenth century author Gedaliah ibn Yaḥyah also credited ha-Levi as the author of the anonymous Sefer ha-Chinuch ("Book of Education"), although this claim has been rejected by many scholars due to discrepancies between opinions expressed in Bedek HaBayith and the Chinuch.[1][2] This has led to the conclusion that the true author of the Sefer ha-Chinuch was a different "Aaron ha-levi of Barcelona", who was a student of Shlomo ben Aderet, rather than his colleague.[3][4] More recently, Professor Israel Ta-Shma of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has presented that the author of "Sefer ha-Chinuch" was in fact Aaron's brother, Pinchas ben Joseph ha-Levi, who had written the work for his son, Joshua.[5] Rabbi Yom Tov Asevilli was one of his students.

Sources

  1. ↑ Chida, Shem HaGedolim.
  2. ↑ Rosin (1871), Ein Compendium der Jüdischen Gesetzeskunde, pp. 131–134
  3. ↑ Rabbi Chaim Dov Chavel, appendix to Mossad HaRav Kook edition of Sefer HaChinuch.
  4. ↑ The 613 mitzvot: a contemporary guide to the commandments of Judaism R. L. Eisenberg - 2005 "Sefer ha-Chinuch (Book of Education), which is attributed to the 13th- century Aaron Ha-Levi of Barcelona,"
  5. ↑ Israel Ta-Shma (1980), "Mehabbero ha-'amitti shel Sefer ha-hinnukh," Kiryat Sefer 55: 787-90

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Aaron ben Joseph ha-Levi". Jewish Encyclopedia. 1901–1906. 

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