ר׳ יעקב בן מאיר רבנו תם

ר׳ יעקב בן ר׳ מאיר (c.1100–9 June 1171), universally known as רבנו תם, was the pre-eminent French Tosafist of the twelfth century. Born at Ramerupt, he was the grandson of ר׳ שלמה יצחקי through his mother Yocheved and studied with his father ר׳ מאיר בן שמואל, his brother ר׳ שמואל בן מאיר and other northern French scholars. He led an academy at Ramerupt and became the central halakhic authority of a transregional network whose questions and rulings reached France, England, Germany and beyond. During the Second Crusade in 1147, crusaders robbed and violently assaulted him at his home; he survived through the intervention of a nobleman. His ספר הישר combines Talmudic novellae and responsa and characteristically reconciles difficult passages through interpretation rather than casual textual emendation. His rulings shaped tefillin practice, mezuzah placement, Sabbath law, divorce documents and communal regulation. He participated in assemblies associated with the Takkanot of Troyes and corresponded with leading contemporaries. After the Blois martyrdom of 1171 he reportedly instituted a fast; he died soon afterward at Troyes and was buried with his family at Ramerupt.