Person · 4850–4930 AM · 1090 CE — 1170 CE
Raaban—Rabbi Eliezer ben Nathan of Mainz רבי אליעזר בן נתן ממגנצא
the chronicler of the massacres of 1096 and the first codifier of Ashkenaz
Even ha-Ezer, also called Sefer Raaban, was finished after 1152: decisions, responsa and analyses arranged by tractate. Before him the Rhineland communities held the law orally and in students' notes; after him Ashkenaz had a book of its own.
He corresponded with Rabbeinu Tam and the Rashbam and sat in a rabbinical synod. Through his four daughters the line runs down to Rabbeinu Asher and to his son, the author of the Turim.
The years are disputed: the Jewish Encyclopedia says only that he was active in the first half of the twelfth century; modern works of reference give 1090–1170. We take the latter reading and name the former.
On the timeline
4856 · 1096 CEThe First Crusade and the Massacres in the Rhineland4860 · 1100 CEThe School of the Tosafists and Rabbeinu Tam
Places
Related
Sources
Rishonim
- Even ha-Ezer (Sefer Raaban), after 1152 — the first code of Ashkenaz
- The chronicle of the persecutions of 1096 — an eyewitness record with the author's name in acrostic
Basis: documents and evidence.