person · P0235
The Ri (HaZaken) ר"י הזקן
Nephew and foremost student of Rabbeinu Tam, head of the school at Dampierre — after his uncle, the second pillar of the Tosafot, where "the Ri" with no further name means him. The standard Tosafot on most tractates crystallized from the teachings of Rabbeinu Tam and the Ri as reworked by their students.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- ר"י הזקן
- Also known as
- Yitzchak ben Shmuel of Dampierre, Isaac the Elder
- Era
- rishonim
- Received the mesorah from
- Rabbeinu Tam
- Teachers
- Rabbeinu Tam
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 4875–4944 AM
- Academic
- c. 1115–1184 CE
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈69 years
- Precision
- approximate
III. Where
- Places
- Dampierre
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| He was the son of Rabbeinu Tam's sister (great-grandson of Rashi) and studied under Rabbeinu Tam, whom he succeeded as the leading Tosafist authority; the Tosafot record their exchanges on nearly every tractate. | tradition | ★★★★☆ | |
| His students — R' Shimshon of Sens, R' Yehudah Sir Leon of Paris, and others — carried the Tosafist school onward; none of them is yet in the atlas, which is why the drawn Ashkenazic line pauses here until the Maharam of Rothenburg (see the deliberate-gaps list).
Gap by atlas coverage, not by history — the links exist and are attested. |
tradition reconstruction | ★★★☆☆ | |
| His son Elchanan, himself a tosafist whose comments survive, was killed — reported as a martyrdom — during his father's lifetime, c. 1184.
The honorific in the Tosafot citations indicates a violent death; the circumstances and the year are less secure.
|
rabbinic tradition | ★★★☆☆ |
|
| Died c. 1189 CE.
Estimated date.
|
tradition | ★★☆☆☆ |
|