Joseph ben Isaac Bekhor Shor

Joseph ben Isaac Bekhor Shor of Orleans (12th century) (Hebrew: יוֹסֵף בֶּן־יִצחָק בְּכוֹר־שׁוֹר) was a French tosafist, exegete, and poet who flourished in the 2nd half of the 12th century.

Joseph was a pupil of Jacob Tam, Joseph Kara, and Samuel ben Meïr (Rashbam). The identity of Joseph Bekor Shor and the tosafist Joseph ben Isaac of Orleans has been sufficiently demonstrated by Gross, who showed that the same explanations given in the Tosafot (Ḥul. 112-b; Yeb. 25-b, 36-b) in the name of "Joseph ben Isaac", are quoted in the Semak (No. 205) and in Meir of Rothenburg's Responsa (ed. Prague, No. 863) as those of "Joseph Bekor Shor."

Joseph was on very friendly terms with his teacher Jacob Tam, with whom he carried on a learned correspondence (Sefer ha-Yashar, p. 71a). Besides tosafot on the greater part of the Talmud, he wrote a Biblical commentary marked by considerable acumen. Even more than Rashi, to whose exegetical school he belonged, he confined himself to literal interpretations (peshat). Anticipating later Biblical criticism, he assumed the presence of duplicate narratives in the Bible, and he strove to give rational explanations to the miraculous stories. Thus he interprets "tree of life" (Genesis ii. 9) as "tree of healing", explaining that the fruit of the tree possessed the virtue of healing the sick, without, however, bestowing eternal life. In regard to the transformation of Lot's wife into a pillar of salt (Gen. xix. 26) he explains that, disbelieving in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, she lingered on the road, and was overtaken by the rain of brimstone and fire, which are usually mixed with salt.

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