REUBEN BEN ?AYYIM

REUBEN BEN ?AYYIM (d. before 1276), Provencal talmudist. Reuben studied under Isaac ha-Kohen, a disciple of *Abraham b. David of Posquieres. Few biographical details are known of him. Both he and his brother Abraham composed piyyutim. Among his prominent pupils were *Manoah of Narbonne and Menahem b. Solomon *Meiri. The latter praises his teacher at great length both on account of his comprehensive knowledge of the Talmud and his general culture (Introd. to Beit ha-Be?irah to Avot ed. by B.Z. Prag (1964), 56). Reuben was the author of Sefer ha-Tamid, a philosophical commentary on the liturgy, which seems also to have contained laws concerning the prayers together with a commentary.

A fragment of the commentary was published in the collection O?ar ha-?ayyim, 11 (1935). *Aaron b. Jacob ha-Kohen of Lunel utilized the work in his Or?ot ?ayyim and it is evident that *Abudarham also used it. But apart from these it was not widely used nor were copies of it available. It was used as late as the 18^th century by Judah b. Meir Toledano, a Moroccan scholar. Azariah dei Rossi (Me'or Einayim, section "Yemei Olam," ch. 40) mentions a commentary on the aggadot of the Talmud by Reuben. According to Geiger, *Levi b. Abraham b. ?ayyim was a nephew of Reuben.

bibliography:

A. Geiger, Kevu?at Ma'amarim, ed. by S. Pozna?ski (1910), 254–85; J.M. Toledano, in: O?ar ha-?ayyim, 11 (1935), 1–42; idem, O?ar Genazim (1960), 207f.; S. Hurvitz, in: Talpioth, 9 (1964), 146–9; S.K. Mirsky (ed.), ?ibbur ha-Teshuvah le-R. Mena?em b. Shelomo ha-Me'iri (1950), 13–16 (introd.).

[Israel Moses Ta-Shma]