Judah ben David (Abu Zakaria Yahia lbn Dand) Hayyoudj, who may be looked upon as the master of Djanah, was originally from Fez but lived for the greater time at Cordova (end of the tenth and beginning of the eleventh century). He inspired remarkable disciples, among others the statesman Samuel ha-Naggid Ibn Nagdela. He was the first to discover the triliteral character of all Hebrew roots.
93 Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra (1092-1167), born at Toledo, died at Rome. He left Spain in about his fortieth year, and travelled through Europe, reaching also Asia and Africa. The European countries he visited are Italy, France, England, and the Provence. It was on his second visit to Italy that he died at Rome. He wrote for his living and by way of compensation to his hosts. He was a philosopher, excellent mathematician, clever poet, and highly subjective writer. In the domain of philology he brought to the knowledge of Christian Europe the works of his great predecessors, and if he was not a very original grammarian, he was at least a clear-sighted exegete. His Biblical commentaries are held in high esteem.
Concerning Rashi and Ibn Ezra see also chap. XI, pp.206-7, and chap. XII, p.220.
94 At this point I think it well to give once for all a summing up of Talmudic literature. The Talmud is the united mass of the documents and texts of the oral law. It comprises the Mishnah and the Gemara, the latter being called also Talmud. The Mishnah, a collection in six parts and forty-nine treatises, is the work of numerous generations of scholars. Its final redaction (setting aside somewhat later additions) was made by Judah the Saint, or Rabbi (about 150-210). The texts not incorporated by Rabbi are called Baraitas. The Gemara is the commentary and the development of the Mishnab, which it follows step by step, in discussing it and completing its statements. There are two Gemara collections: one elaborated in Palestine under the influence of R. Johanan (199-279) and terminated toward the end of the fourth century, which Is called the Palestinian or Jerusalem Talmud; the other drawn up in Babylonia under the influence of Rab and of Samuel (third century), and brought to a conclusion about 500 through the initiative of R. Ashi and his disciples; this Is called the Babylonian Talmud. The latter covers the greater part of the Mishnah. It is by far the more important of the two Talmuds from the juridic point of view, and it is the one that has been the chief subject of studies and commentaries. The Talmud comprises two elements: the Halakah, "rule of conduct," legislation, and the Haggadah, "exposition," which embraces non-Halakic exegesis, history, legend, profane learning, etc. The scholars whose discussions are given in the Mishnah are called Tannaim, and those who figure only in the Gemara, Amoraim.
95 See Appendix II, pp.232-4.
96 See p.91.
97 Hananel ben Hushiel, of Kairnan, first half of the eleventh century, commented upon the Talmud and the Pentateuch.
98 This false notion gained currency through the existence of Responsa addressed by Nathan to a certain Solomon ben Isaac: but this Solomon is an Italian. See Vogelstein and Rieger, <I>Geschichte der Juden in Rom,</I> I, pp.366 <I>et seq.</I> For further Information concerning Nathan ben Jehiel, see Note 121. With regard to recurring names for different individuals - the plague of Jewish literature - it should be said that a French rabbi named Solomon ben Isaac lived about a century after Rashi, who corresponded with R. Tam. He has been confounded with his illustrious predecessor of the same name. See Gross, <I>Gallia judaica,</I> p.34. Buber, Introduction to the <I>Sefer ha-Orah,</I> p.13.
99 See Notes 37 and 38.
100 Another name for the Sadduceans, from their chief Boethus
(first century of the Common Era)