Jacob ben Meir, best known as Rabbeinu Tam, was one of the most renowned Ashkenazi Jewish rabbis and leading French Tosafists, a leading halakhic authority in his generation, and a grandson of Rashi.
10 Facts About Rabbeinu Tam
1.
2.
Rabbeinu Tam's work is cited by Rabbi Zerachya HaLevi, a Provencal critic.
3.
Rabbeinu Tam maintained a scholarly correspondence with Aaron ben Joseph of Beaugency and received questions from students throughout France and from the Italian communities of Bari and Otranto.
4.
Rabbeinu Tam gave his Beth Din the title of "the generation's [most] significant court", and indeed, he is known for communal enactments improving Jewish family life, education, and women's status.
5.
Regardless of the episode's veracity, Rabbeinu Tam did disagree with the opinion of his antecedent.
6.
Today, both "Rashi tefillin" and "Rabbeinu Tam tefillin" are produced: the Shulchan Aruch requires wearing Rashi's version and recommends that God-fearing Jews wear both in order to satisfy both halakhic opinions.
7.
The rise and articulation of chasidic philosophy has conflated the kabbalistic and halakhic aspects of Rabbeinu Tam's position, popularizing the custom to wear both pairs every day.
8.
Rashi rules that it should be mounted on the doorpost in a vertical position; Rabbeinu Tam holds that it should be mounted horizontally.
9.
Rabbeinu Tam was influenced by the poetry of the Spaniards, and is the chief representative of the transition period, in Christian lands, from the old "payyetanic" mode of expression to the more graceful forms of the Spanish school.
10.
Rabbeinu Tam's best known work is Sefer HaYashar, which contained both novellae and responsa, its main purpose to resolve Talmudic textual problems without resorting to emendations of the received text.