32
Ralbag held of a number of views which might be considered problematic, or against normative theology. The first three listed below, are more deviant than the subsequent two. The former would be considered a theological anomaly (and perhaps even heretical) even in Ralbag's own milieu. The latter would probably not have caused a stir for many of the rishonim, ...
21
From Wikipedia:
R' Menachem Mendel Kasher in an article in the periodical Sinai refutes many of [Gershom] Scholem's points (used to argue that Zohar was authored by R. Moshe De Leon). He writes:
Many statements in the works of the Rishonim refer to Medrashim that we are not aware of. He writes that these are in fact references to the Zohar. This ...
18
One of the first Tosafot in Gittin 2a (מתני' המביא גט) brings that the reason the Get has 12 lines is because the gematriya of Get is 12.
ומה שנוהגים לכתוב י"ב שורות בגט אומר ר"ת משום דגט גימטריא י"ב
That which we're accustomed to write 12 lines in a Get- Rabbeinu Tam says because "Get" has a gematriya of 12
14
In the Yerushalmi (Shekalim 1:3), Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai's position that the tribe of Levi was obligated to give the annual half-Shekel Temple tax is derived from the verse (Exodus 30:13) זה יתנו where זה is 12 in Gematria, implying all 12 tribes need to give the tax. Rambam (Shekalim 1:7) rules like this opinion.
13
Did Rashi's works even reach the lands in which the Rambam lived?
To summarize Prof. Shamma Friedman's piece, scholars in the early 20th century assumed from Rambam's silence, that he did not have access to Rashi's works, and furthermore, that they were generally unavailable in Egypt at that time.
Additionally, we can infer from Rambam's early ...
13
I found a case attributed to the Semag (one of the last ba'alei Tosfos) where a sin is so heinous that not only is forgiveness not an option, but we don't administer capital punishment since putting this person to death won't serve as atonement (ie we let him live).
But first some background.
There's a prohibition of offering one's children to Molech, a ...
12
There's a significant amount of literature on this which I'm not going to look up right now, so please excuse the lack of sources; I'll try to edit them in later (they were all found by following the footnotes to introductions to the Mosad Harav Kook editions of the relevant mesechtos, even though the most thorough introduction I believe is that on Eiruvin ...
11
The Tur (CM 25) records a dispute whether a Rishon has authority to argue against a gaon. The Raavad maintains that one may not, whereas the Rosh says it is possible to:
כתב הראב"ד שאין אדם עתה בזמנינו רשאי לחלוק על דברי גאון כדי שישתנה הדין מדברי גאון אלא בקושיא מפורסמת וזהו דבר שאינו נמצא לפיכך החולק על דברי גאון הוי כטועה בדבר משנה וכן אם טעה בפסקי ...
11
Prof. Yedidya Alter Dinri records in his Hakhmei Ashkenaz B'Shilhi Y'mei HaBeynayim (pp. 278-9) as cited by R. Yisrael Peles in Yeshurun (20 p. 890) that many Aharonim held that Likkutei Maharil (aka Sefer Maharil) is not a fully reliable work. For example, the Yad Malakhi (klalei HaPoskim: Klalei Shaar HaMehabrim V'HaMefarshim: 33) cites R. Sh'muel Bachrach ...
10
The single best place for online texts, commentaries and shiurim relating to Yerushalmi is definitely http://www.yerushalmionline.org/
They have daf yomi recordings for all of the Yerushalmi from shiurim given by Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer as well as 100s of pdf's of articles and commentaries on the Yerushalmi.
In my limited experience with the ...
10
The Meiri (13th cent.) describes the unique features of the Mishneh Torah in his introduction to Beit HaBehira:
That it is omits the Talmudic dialectics, and presents just ruling.
That it is written in Mishnaic Hebrew.
That it includes all laws; even those which are not practically applicable.
That it includes material from a great number of sources ...
10
Your suspicions are correct and confirmed by Aptowitzer (Intro. to 'Ravia', pg. 39), Urbach (Ba'alei HaTosafos, Jer. 1969, pg. 179) and Ginzberg (JE, Eliezer b. Joel). His full name was Yoel b. Yitzchok HaLevi. He was born in the first quarter of the 12th century and died at the turn of the next. He was also a son in-law of R. Eliezer b. Nathan (Ravan, ראב״ן)...
10
The consensus of the majority of traditional and modern authorities is that the "Rashi on the Rif" is not written by Rashi, but rather by a different scholar around the 13th and 14th centuries.
The following image is taken from the Oz V'hadar edition of Masectha Brachos, from page 3 of the introduction to the Rif. It is referring to a paragraph in which ...
9
The following is from an old project of mine. It is in rough chronological order, so I cut it off by the 15th century, but some Acharonim still managed to squeeze in. :)
Classic Mussar Seforim
The following is a select list of major works of mussar:
Mishlei (Proverbs) – Shelomo HaMelech (King Solomon). The book of Mishlei is probably the first work ...
9
While your question is overly broad, the short answer is "yes" - at least so far as Rishonim are concerned, and only because I don't know of any examples from geonim. (There are numerous examples of humour being employed in the Talmud, but that's beyond the scope of what you asked).
There are two famous examples from Ibn Ezra, who lived from approximately ...
9
The Rivash in his Tshuvos #45 mentioned that some of the Ralbag's beliefs that he felt were influenced by nontraditional wisdom. Rivash does mention that Ralbag wrote otherwise nice works.
Rivash pointed to a few problematic ones in particular. One, in regard to Hashem's knowledge of the future. Two, concerning the sun standing still for Yehoshua 'he ...
9
Tosafot Shants are printed in the margins of Eduyot in the standard Vilna edition of the Talmud (counterintuitively, it isn't usually printed in editions of the Mishna). You can read it online here. His commentary to tractates in Zera'im, Middot and Tahorot is also printed with the Talmud.
8
The Rambam writes in one of his letters:
We do not pose difficulties with [i.e. from] the Aggadah. Are they words of Tradition or expressions of reason? Rather each individual considers their explanation as it seems fit to him. In this [Aggadah] there are no words of Tradition, no prohibition and no license, and no law among the Laws; therefore we do not ...
8
The quote actually comes from Mivchar HaP'ninim, which was written originally in Arabic, then translated into Hebrew by Judah ibn Tibbon (father of the famous translator of Maimonides' "Guide", Samuel ibn Tibbon). Perhaps one reason why a quote such as the one you saw became popular was due to the publication of an English version of the book (available here)...
8
The Sma"k (written by Isaac ben Joseph of Corbeil) is an abridged version of the Sma"g (written by Moses ben Jacob of Coucy) including additional agaddic and ethical material. Cited here for instance.
See also here p. 9
The Sma"k is based on the Sma"g but targets a wider audience, to this
effect it includes few sources and focuses on the final ...
8
It is the Rivmats, Rabbi Yitzchak Ben Malki Tzedek, from Siponto in Italy. A little more about him in the Wikipedia entry about him.
The following source helped me find him (top of page 126).
8
Tosefos to Berachos 44a, s.v. על העץ, cites the ספר המיימוני.
ובס' המיימוני מצריך להזכיר בה מעין המאורע בשבת ובי"ט
8
According to a quote from Rav Chaim Kanievsky, there are only 3 places in Shas where Rambam is mentioned in Tosfos (brought down in the stories at the end of the 29th chapter of the Artscroll English Orchos Yosher, Page 400. Including the 2 already mentioned for the sake of completion):
1: Berachos 44a, Dibur Hamaschil על העץ ועל פרי העץ :
ובס' המיימוני ...
8
One of the Ritva's teachers was Rav Aharon Ha-Levi, often known by the acronym רא"ה. He was indeed a direct descendant of the Ba'al Ha-Maor.
7
There are lots of examples of this in Sefer Kol-Bo (c. 14th century). One such example, brought in §122, concerns the halakha that a convert will only be accepted if s/he agrees to observe the entire Torah. This is learnt out from Psalm 146:7-9, as follows:
ה' מתיר אסורים, ה' פוקח עורים, ה' זוקף כפופים, ה' אוהב צדיקים, ה' שומר
את גרים: ראשי התיבות הללו ...
7
The best online resource would be yerushalmionline.org. It contains shiurim from R' Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer on the entire Yerushalmi, and links to helpful seforim.
The top things to keep in mind (sorry, I can't think of exactly 5 right now) are that Yerushalmi's language is more terse than that of Bavli, and there is often little or no consensus as to how a ...
7
According to Encyclopedi Yehudit ר' ברוך בר' שמואל ממגנצא' was the author of Sefer Hachachma and it has been lost.
ברוך בן שמואל ממגנצא - תלמודי ופייטן. חי בסוף המאה הי"ב ומת במגנצא
בשנת 1221. היה תלמיד מובהק של רבי אליעזר ממיץ. חתם על התקנות שנעשו
במגנצא בשנת ד"א תתק"ף המובאות בסוף מהר"ם דפוס פראג.
חיבר את ספר "החכמה" בהלכה המובא בראשונים, הספר ...
7
Shaalos Uteshuvos Radbaz 3:444 says that perhaps the Riva felt that his time was up and knew that he would die either way and therefore did not eat.
"אפשר דריב"א ז"ל הרגיש בעצמו דאפילו שיאכל ימות ד'לב יודע מרת נפשו',
והיינו דקאמר: ברי ושמא ברי עדיף. כלומר: הברי שלי [שאמות] עדיף משמא
שלכם [שאולי תצילו אותי], ולפיכך לא רצה לאכול".
The "ברי" was ...
7
It is not true that the Meiri's Bet haBechirah was "rediscovered" in modern times. The work had never been missing, but was merely in manuscript form for some six hundred years, only being printed for the first time in the 18th century. My guess is that the anonymous author of the article you cite is using the phrase "modern times" to refer to this period, ...
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