JOSEPH (Joselein) BEN MOSES

JOSEPH (Joselein ) BEN MOSES (1423–1490?), talmudist and author. Born in Hoechstaedt, Bavaria, he studied under Jacob *Weil at Augsburg, Judah *Minz at Padua, and Joseph *Colon at Mestre. His principal teacher, however, was Israel *Isserlein under whom he studied at Wiener Neustadt for 10 years, and whose statements, customs, and daily conduct he noted carefully. From these notes he wrote his work Leket Yosher (ed. by J. Freimann, 1903), which is a compilation of his teacher's customs, together with his responsa and halakhic decisions. He was apparently the first to base his work on the Arba'ah Turim, but only the sections on the Oraḥ Ḥayyim and Yoreh De'ah are extant. The language of the author is not clear, as he himself admits. He was, however, an extremely precise and conscientious compiler, regularly indicating his sources, comparing different manuscripts, and, on several occasions, pointing out that a responsum he had found was a revised version and not a true copy of the author's original statement. At times he added brief annotations from the Talmud and halakhic authorities. The work is significant also because of the many new responsa of contemporary scholars which are cited and because of its great value for the history of the Jews and scholars of Germany, whose important communities he visited.

bibliography:

Joseph b. Moses, Leket Yosher, ed. by J. Freimann (1903), introd.; S. Eidelberg, Jewish Life in Austria in the 15^th Century (1962), index.

[Yedidya A. Dinari]