{"id":241,"date":"2020-08-09T10:04:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-09T17:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trmarvin.org\/?p=241"},"modified":"2020-08-09T10:04:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-09T17:04:00","slug":"who-was-the-shimusha-rabba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trmarvin.org\/?p=241","title":{"rendered":"Who was the Shimusha Rabba?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When the Shimusha Rabba<\/em> is mentioned, it’s usually in connection to a rare, alternative form of tefillin. Lesser known is the source for this method, a short halakhic work on tefillin from the period of the Geonim<\/a>, possibly from the earlier part of the period to which relatively few sources attest. The gaon<\/a>ic-era author is unknown and consequently both the author and the work (as well as the type of tefillin the work describes) are referred to as Shimusha Rabba<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shimusha Rabba tefillin<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Shimusha Rabba tefillin, based on the text that has come down to us, differ in several respects from the standard tefillin that accord with Rashi<\/a>. First, the Shimusha Rabbah<\/em> suggests a different ordering for the scrolls inside the tefillah shel rosh (the box that is placed on the head). According to this understanding, the order of the scrolls begins on the wearer’s right, in contradistinction to both Rashi<\/a> and Rabbenu Tam, who order the scrolls with respect to the wearer’s left (though each does so differently). Like Rashi<\/a>, the scrolls in the Shimusha Rabba tefillah then follow the order in which they appear in the Torah, meaning that Shimusha Rabba tefillin are the inverse of Rashi<\/a> tefillin.<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The Shimusha Rabba<\/em> also requires a minimum size of two fingers’ breadth for the boxes, and prescribes precisely the location and number of tagin (decorative crowns) that should be written by the scribe on the scrolls inside the tefillin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attribution and transmission<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The attribution of Shimusha Rabba<\/em> to R’ Sar Shalom Gaon<\/a> is late.<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The Shimusha Rabba<\/em> was copied by Rosh (Asher b. Yech<\/span>iel, mid-13th-14th cen.) in the section on tefillin in his Halakhot Ketannot<\/em>, a book of rulings not otherwise included in Piskei ha-Rosh<\/em>. Shimusha Rabba<\/em> is also mentioned or cited by other Rishonim<\/a>,<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> including (not surprisingly) the Tur<\/em>,<\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> but also, inter alia, Semag<\/em>,<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> the Eshkol<\/em>, <\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span>, Kol Bo<\/em>,<\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Machzor Vitry<\/em>,<\/span>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span> and Tosafot<\/em>.<\/span>9<\/sup><\/a><\/span> It is within Rosh’s Halakhot Ketannot<\/em> that Shimusha Rabba<\/em> was preserved and later printed. Halakhot Ketannot<\/em>, including Shimusha Rabba<\/em>, is now printed in standard editions of Shas<\/a>, with the section on tefillin appearing at the end of Menachot. In some editions, there is a brief line introducing the work, ostensibly by Rosh: ועתה אכתוב הלכות תפילין הנמצאים על שם גאון ז”ל ונקרא שימושא רבא (“And now I will write the laws of tefillin that are found in the name of a gaon<\/a>, which are called Shimusha Rabba<\/em>“).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shimusha Rabba appears in at least one genizah fragment of Halakhot Gedolot<\/em>.<\/span>10<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Its Aramaic appears to be a dialect common to other gaon<\/a>ic works, including Seder ‘Olam Zuta<\/em> and the Sheiltot<\/em>.<\/span>11<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most references to Shimusha Rabba<\/em> by Rishonim<\/a> concern tefillin, although a few seem to indicate that Shimusha Rabba<\/em> covered other topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yehudah b. Barzillai’s hassagah to Shimusha Rabba<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, Rosh also copied below Shimusha Rabba<\/em> the hassagah (critical gloss) of R. Yehudah b. Barzillai al-Bargeloni (“of Barcelona,” late 11th-12 cen.), which originally appeared in a section, no longer extant, of the latter’s halakhic compendium Sefer ha-‘Ittim<\/em>. (The fragments of Sefer ha-‘Ittim<\/em> that have come down to us pertain to the laws of Shabbat.) The highly critical remark suggests that the Shimusha Rabba is not the work of a gaon<\/a>, but transmitted, with obvious mistakes, by a student recording the remarks of his teacher. He writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ואנו תמיהנו טובא על שמושא רבא דכתבי הכא מיהו כתבינן ליה הכא כדאשכחנא יתיה בנוסחאות עתיקי אע”פ שיש בו קצת הוראות נכונות ומינייהו טעות ומינייהו אין הלשון שלו מכוון כלל שיש בו טעיות הרבה<\/p>

“We have doubted a great deal regarding what Shimusha Rabba records here, although it was written thus when we found it in old texts; although there is in it a few correct rulings, still among them are errors and words that are not at all clear, which have many errors in them.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

R. Yehudah b. Barzillai goes on to point out that the Shimusha Rabba<\/em> confuses Tannaitic<\/a> and Amoraic<\/a> teachings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A mixed reception<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

R’ Yehudah b. Barzillai was not alone in his critical evaluation of Shimusha Rabba<\/em>. Machzor Vitry<\/em>, for instance, says of Shimusha Rabba<\/em>: אין לסמוך על דבריהם במקום שתלמוד שלנו חולק עליהם (“Their opinions are not to be relied upon in the places where our Talmud<\/a> disagrees with them”).<\/span>12<\/sup><\/a><\/span> At the same time, Rabbenu Tam cites the Shimusha Rabba<\/em> affirmatively, and its value was generally accepted where it did not contradict the Talmud<\/a>. The Shimusha Rabba<\/em> is cited many times in the Beit Yosef<\/em>. In his responsa<\/a>, Rema miFano (R. Menahem Azaryah of Fano, 16th-17th cen.) endorses the Shimusha Rabba<\/em> as an alternatively transmitted, authentic tradition which preserves many Kabbalistic ideas relating to tefillin. <\/span>13<\/sup><\/a><\/span> It is in this connection that the use of Shimusha Rabba tefillin is usually undertaken in our times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Image credit<\/span>: The opening of the Frankfurt, 1720 edition of Rosh’s Halakhot Ketannot<\/em>. Public domain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the Shimusha Rabba is mentioned, it’s usually in connection to a rare, alternative form of tefillin. Lesser known is the source for this method, a short halakhic work on tefillin from the period of the Geonim, possibly from the earlier part of the period to which relatively few sources attest. The gaonic-era author is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[53,56,102,115],"class_list":["post-241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-halacha","tag-gaonic-period--","tag-halachic-literature--","tag-rosh-","tag-tefillin-"],"yoast_head":"\nWho was the Shimusha Rabba? - Tamar Marvin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/trmarvin.org\/?p=241\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who was the Shimusha Rabba? - Tamar Marvin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When the Shimusha Rabba is mentioned, it’s usually in connection to a rare, alternative form of tefillin. 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