Solomon ibn Adret

Shlomo ben Avraham ibn Aderet
Personal details
Born	1235 Barcelona, Aragon
Died	1310 (aged 74–75) Barcelona, Aragon

Shlomo ben Avraham ibn Aderet (Hebrew: שלמה בן אברהם אבן אדרת‎ or Solomon son of Abraham son of Aderet) (1235–1310) was a Medieval rabbi, halakhist, and Talmudist. He is widely known as the Rashba (Hebrew: רשב״א‎), the Hebrew acronym of his title and name: Rabbi Shlomo ben Avraham.

The Rashba was born in Barcelona, Crown of Aragon, in 1235. He became a successful banker and leader of Spanish Jewry of his time. He served as rabbi of the Main Synagogue of Barcelona for 50 years. His teachers were Nahmanides and Yonah Gerondi. Among his numerous students were Yom Tov Asevilli and Bahya ben Asher.

Spanish rabbi; born in 1235 at Barcelona; died in 1310. As a rabbinical authority his fame was such that he was designated as El Rab d'España ("The Rabbi of Spain"). A manuscript purporting to be a certificate of indebtedness, dated 1262, in favor of a certain Solomon Adret, Jew of Barcelona, and a passport for the same Adret, dated 1269, are still extant (Jacobs, "Sources," pp. 16, 43, No. 130). Moses ben Naḥman (Naḥmanides) and Jonah of Gerona were his teachers. He was a master in the study of the Talmud, and was not opposed to the Cabala. Adret was very active as a rabbi and as an author. Under his auspices and through his recommendation, part of the commentary on the Mishnah by Maimonides was translated from the Arabic into Hebrew. His Talmudic lectures were attended by throngs of disciples, many of whom came from distant places. Questions in great number, dealing with ritual, with the most varied topics of the Halakah, and with religious philosophy, were addressed to him from Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, and even from Asia Minor. His responsa show evidence of wide reading, keen intelligence, and systematic thought. They also afford a clear insight into the communal life of the time, portraying Adret's contemporaries, and are of value for the study not only of rabbinical procedure but also of the intellectual development of the age in which he lived. Only half of these responsa have been published, as they number three thousand.

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