ר׳ אליעזר בן יואל הלוי

ר׳ אליעזר בן יואל הלוי of Bonn, known as ראבי״ה, was a major German Tosafist and halakhic authority. Born around 1140, he was the maternal grandson of ר׳ אליעזר בן נתן, the ראב״ן, and studied with his father ר׳ יואל בן יצחק הלוי as well as ר׳ יהודה החסיד and ר׳ יהודה בן קלונימוס ממגנצא. His learning took him through Bonn, Worms, Würzburg, Mainz, Metz and other centres. After losing his property during an attack at Bingen, he eventually accepted paid rabbinic office, succeeding his father as rabbi of Cologne about 1200. His principal compilation, אבי העזרי, universally called ספר ראבי״ה, and the related אבי אסף arrange halakhic rulings on prayer, festivals, marriage, damages and other fields while preserving older Rhineland and French traditions. He participated in the Mainz synod of about 1220–23 and became a leading communal authority. After his brother ר׳ אורי was martyred in 1216, grief damaged his eyesight and students helped take down his teachings; among them was ר׳ יצחק בן משה מווינה, author of אור זרוע. His rulings profoundly influenced ר׳ אשר בן יחיאל and later Ashkenazic law. He died around 1225, probably in Cologne.