Tosafot
The Tosafot, Tosafos or Tosfot 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; for a listing
Meaning of name
The word tosafot literally means "additions". The reason for the title is a matter of dispute among modern scholars.Many of them, including Heinrich Graetz, think the glosses are so-called as additions to Rashi's commentary on the Talmud. In fact, the period of the Tosafot began immediately after Rashi had written his commentary; the first tosafists were Rashi's sons-in-law and grandsons, and the Tosafot consist mainly of strictures on Rashi's commentary.
Others, especially Isaac Hirsch Weiss, object that many tosafot — particularly those of Isaiah di Trani — have no reference to Rashi. Weiss, followed by other scholars, asserts that tosafot means additions to the Talmud, that is to say, they are an extension and development of the Talmud. For just as the Gemara is a critical and analytical commentary on the Mishnah, so are the Tosafot critical and analytical glosses on those two parts of the Talmud. Further, the term tosafot was not applied for the first time to the glosses of Rashi's continuators, but to the Tosefta, the additions to the Mishnah compiled by Judah ha-Nasi I. Tosefta is a Babylonian term, which in Jerusalem writings is replaced by tosafot. The Tosafot resemble the Gemara in other respects also, for just as the latter is the work of different schools carried on through a long period, so the former were written at different times and by different schools, and gathered later into one body.
Character
Up to and including Rashi, the Talmudic commentators occupied themselves only with the plain meaning 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, 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 Tosafot do not constitute a continuous commentary, but rather deal only with difficult passages of the Talmud. 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. 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."
The above description concerns the general features of the Tosafot; nevertheless, the writings of different tosafists differ somewhat in style and method. With regard to method, it should be said that the [|Tosafot of Touques] concern particularly the casuistic interpretation of the traditional law, but do not touch halakhic decisions.
In spite of the great respect in which Rashi was held by the Tosafists, the latter freely disputed his explanations;
see.
History
The chief home of tosafot literature was 11th century France. It began with Rashi's pupils, and was continued mainly by the heads of the French schools. While tosafot began to be written in Germany at the same time as in France, 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 and Judah ben Nathan, and by a certain R. Joseph. But their tosafot not being otherwise known, the actual father of the tosafot in France was Jacob b. Meir, known colloquially as 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, flourished Isaac ben Asher ha-Levi, leader of the German tosafists, who wrote numerous tosafot, which are mentioned by Abraham ben David, and which are very often cited in the edited tosafot. But Isaac ben Asher's tosafot were revised by his pupils, who, according to Rabbeinu Tam, sometimes ascribed to their teacher opinions which were not his. Zedekiah ben Abraham, however, refutes Rabbeinu Tam's assertion.The most prominent tosafist immediately after Rabbeinu Tam was his pupil and relative Isaac ben Samuel ha-Zaḳen of Dampierre, whose tosafot form a part of the Tosafot Yeshanim. Isaac was succeeded by his pupil Samson ben Abraham of Sens , 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 was also very active; he wrote tosafot to several Talmudic treatises, of which those to Berakhot were published at Warsaw ; some of those to 'Abodah Zarah are extant in manuscript. Among the many French tosafists deserving special mention was Samuel ben Solomon of Falaise, who, owing to the destruction of the Talmud in France in his time, relied for the text entirely upon his memory.
The edited tosafot owe their existence particularly to Samson of Sens and to the following French tosafists of the thirteenth century: Moses of Évreux, Eliezer of Touques, and 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 Meir of Rothenburg ; the Italian school was represented by Isaiah di Trani. If the tosafot of Asher b. Jehiel are to be included, the tosafistic period extended through more than two centuries. When the fanaticism of the French monasteries and the judgement of King Louis IX brought about the destruction of the Talmud, the writing of tosafot in France soon ceased.