- Joseph ben Isaac Bekhor Shor
.
Biography
Joseph was a pupil of
Jacob Tam , Joseph Kara, andSamuel ben Meïr (Rashbam). The identity of Joseph Bekor Shor and the tosafist Joseph ben Isaac of Orleans has been sufficiently demonstrated by Gross, who showed that the same explanations given in theTosafot (Ḥul. 112-b; Yeb. 25-b, 36-b) in the name of "Joseph ben Isaac", are quoted in the "Semak" (No. 205) and inMeir of Rothenburg 's Responsa (ed. Prague, No. 863) as those of "Joseph Bekor Shor."Biblical Commentaries
Joseph was on very friendly terms with his teacher
Jacob Tam , with whom he carried on a learned correspondence ("Sefer ha-Yashar", p. 71a). Besides tosafot on the greater part of theTalmud , he wrote aBiblical commentary marked by considerable acumen. Even more thanRashi , to whose exegetical school he belonged, he confined himself to literal interpretations (peshat ). Anticipating laterBiblical criticism , he assumed the presence of duplicate narratives in the Bible, and he strove to give rational explanations to the miraculous stories. Thus he interprets "tree of life " (Genesis ii. 9) as "tree of healing", explaining that the fruit of the tree possessed the virtue of healing the sick, without, however, bestowing eternal life. In regard to the transformation ofLot 's wife into a pillar of salt (Gen. xix. 26) he explains that, disbelieving in the destruction ofSodom and Gomorrah , she lingered on the road, and was overtaken by the rain of brimstone and fire, which are usually mixed with salt.Well acquainted with the
Vulgate andChristian Biblical exegesis , Joseph, in commenting onPsalm ii., citesJerome , whose explanation of the word he criticizes. His commentary on thePentateuch is still extant in manuscript in the libraries ofLeyden andMunich . Part of it, onGenesis andExodus , was published byJellinek (Leipsic , 1855). Extracts from the remaining books were published byBerliner in "Peleṭat Soferim" (1872).Selichot
Joseph was the author also of a number of liturgical poems (
piyyut im). Besides the short hymns in the style ofIbn Ezra with which he concludes each section of the commentary, he wrote the followingselihot :* ד' אליך עיני ישברו, believed by Zunz to have been written on the martyrs of
Blois andBray
* מועד אדון כתקח, fourteen strophes
* אדון רב העלילה, with two refrains – והשב and ושוב* אין לבנון די בער, fifteen strophes, ending with לה' אלהינו הרחמים והסליחות
* אל אלהי האלהים ואדוני, fourteen strophes
* ממכון שבתך אלהים, twenty-six strophesJewish Encyclopedia bibliography
*
Eliakim Carmoly , in Univers Israélite, 1852, p. 365;
*Geiger, Parschandatha, pp. 37 et seq.;
*Zunz , Literaturgesch. pp. 282, 285;
*idem, Z. G. p. 74;
*Moritz Steinschneider , Cat. Bodl. col. 1446;
*Zadoc Kahn, in R. E. J. iii. 6;
*Gross, in Berliner's Magazin, i. 93;
*idem, Gallia Judaica, p. 34.References
*JewishEncyclopedia
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