GERONDI, SAMUEL BEN MESHULLAM

GERONDI, SAMUEL BEN MESHULLAM (c. 1300), scholar of Gerona, Catalonia. Hardly any biographical details are known of him. Gerondi's fame rests primarily on his Ohel Mo'ed (1 (Jerusalem, 1886); 2 (Jerusalem, 1904)), a comprehensive code consisting only of such laws as are of practical application. The book is divided into 4 parts: (1) Ma'arekhet Tamid, on the reading of the Shema, prayer, blessings, tefillin, mezuzah, ẓiẓit; appended is a separate section ("gate") devoted to morals and ethics; (2) Avodat ha-Mishkan, the laws of ritual slaughter, terefot, ritual law, including laws of marriage; (3) Mishmeret ha-Kodesh, on the Sabbath and the *eruv; (4) Yare'aḥ le-Mo'adim, on the festivals. Each part is subdivided into chapters, sections, and subsections called "gates," "roads," and "paths," respectively. In this work, written after 1320, the author quotes extensively from the early Spanish, Provençal, and German scholars. Like the Toledot Adam ve-Ḥavvah of his contemporary, *Jeroham b. Meshullam, Gerondi's work was to a large extent superseded by the Arba'ah Turim of *Jacob b. Asher, which fulfilled essentially the same task in a far more comprehensive manner and which was superior both in form and style. Joseph *Caro is almost the sole authority to quote Gerondi. His work, as it has come down, is an abridged version by the author himself of a larger work which is no longer extant.

bibliography:

Gruenhut, in: jqr, 11 (1898/99), 345–9.

[Israel Moses Ta-Shma]