Asher ben Meshullam

Rabbeinu Asher ben Meshullam was a Jewish theologian and Talmudic scholar who lived at Lunel in the second half of the twelfth century CE. A renowned Talmudist, he was a son of the well-known Rabbeinu Meshullam ben Jacob (Rabbeinu Meshullam ha-Gadol), and a pupil of Rabbeinu Joseph ibn Plat and the Ravad (Rabbeinu Abraham ben David) of Posquières, whose ascetic tendencies he shared. Benjamin of Tudela, in the first part of his "Travels," says that Rabbeinu Asher lived in complete seclusion, wholly devoted to the study of the Torah, and that he never tasted meat. At the same time Rabbeinu Asher was not hostile to philosophy. Rabbeinu Yehudah Ibn Tibbon in a letter to Rabbeinu Asher, praised his fondness for science, and in his testament exhorted his son to cultivate Rabbeinu Asher's friendship. Rabbeinu Asher's alleged leaning toward the Kabbalah, mentioned by Heinrich Graetz, is countered; that the fact that he was responsible for the translation of Solomon ibn Gabirol's Tikkun Midoth ha-Nefesh is no proof for or against his kabbalistic leanings; the kabbalists had a strong leaning toward ibn Gabirol's mysticism; and, after all, the above-mentioned work of Gabirol is moral, rather than strictly philosophical, in its tendencies.

Rabbeinu Asher was the author of several Talmudic works, of which the following are cited by title: Hilkhoth Yom Tov, ("Rules for the Holidays"); Sefer ha-Matanoth, ("The Book of Gifts") a work referring perhaps to the tithes payable to the kohanim. Neither of these writings seems to have been preserved. According to an entry in the manuscript of the small Midrash Aseret ha-Dibberot, Rabbeinu Asher was its author, but the statement is not verifiable.

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