Ri of Dampierre | ר”י

This page is part of my Twitter Thread Index. Every Sunday, I post a thread on Twitter about a figure from Jewish history and why their work matters. The threads are collected in browsable form in the index.

Rabbi Yitzchak ha-Zaken (“the Elder”) of Dampierre, France, was a descendent of Rashi, a student of Rabbenu Tam, and the chief architect of the Tosafot as they’ve come down to us.

“Rabbi Yitzchak the son of the renowned Rabbenu Tam’s sister was the composer (בעל) of the Tosafot which he learned and taught in his yeshiva.” This is how R. Menachem Ibn Zerach introduces Ri in Tzedah la-Derech. He goes on to explain that 60 scholars assembled in Ri’s yeshiva.

— Dr. Tamar Marvin (@tamar_marvin) December 5, 2022