person · P0237
Rashba רשב"א
Ramban's student and successor as rav of Barcelona and halakhic master of Spain — "El Rab d'España." His thousands of responsa (over three thousand survive) governed communities from Ashkenaz to North Africa, and his Talmud novellae remain a staple of study. Teacher of the next generation's leaders, including the Ritva and R' Bachye.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- רשב"א
- Also known as
- Shlomo ben Aderet, Solomon ibn Adret
- Era
- rishonim
- Received the mesorah from
- Ramban
- Teachers
- Ramban
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 4995–5070 AM
- Academic
- c. 1235–1310 CE
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈75 years
- Precision
- approximate
III. Where
- Places
- Barcelona
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| He studied under the Ramban (and under Rabbeinu Yonah of Girona, who is not yet in the atlas), and transmits and defends his master's positions throughout his novellae and responsa. | tradition | ★★★★☆ | |
| His novellae carry the Ramban's fused Spanish-Tosafist method across the Talmud — the school through which that method reached the Ran and the later Spanish academies. | rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| Shlomo ben Avraham ibn Aderet, born at Barcelona c. 1235 and died there c. 1310.
Both dates are conventional estimates.
|
tradition | ★★★☆☆ |
|
| Served as rabbi of the main synagogue of Barcelona for roughly forty years and functioned as the leading halachic address of the Crown of Aragon's Jewish communities. | rabbinic | ★★★★☆ |
|
| Came from a family of financiers and was himself engaged in finance before and during his rabbinic career; he was a man of means.
Documented in Catalan archival material surveyed by Y. Baer; the research pass has not verified a specific document reference and did not invent one.
|
rabbinic reconstruction | ★★★☆☆ |
|
| Maintained an unusually wide correspondence network: several thousand of his responsa survive, addressed to communities in Aragon and Castile, Portugal, Provence, Germany, North Africa, Sicily, Crete and Eretz Yisrael.
Correspondence-network fact, per the atlas's authorship-as- biography category. Sefaria hosts Teshuvot HaRashba; the research pass has not confirmed its ref string.
|
rabbinic | ★★★★☆ |
|
| In 1305 he presided over the promulgation at Barcelona of a ban restricting the study of philosophy and the sciences before a set age — a documented communal act of his final years.
Recorded as an event in his life, not for the content of the ruling. Minchat Kena'ot preserves the surrounding correspondence and is the fullest source.
|
rabbinic | ★★★★☆ |
|