Ritzva—Rabbi Yitzchak ben Avraham of Dampierre הריצב"א — רבי יצחק בן אברהם מדנפיירא
successor of the Ri ha-Zaken at Dampierre, brother of the Rash of Sens
Dampierre was a village, not a town; but there stood the beit midrash of Rabbeinu Yitzchak the Elder, the Ri ha-Zaken, from which nearly all the third-generation French Tosafists came. When the Ri died the question was who would continue; the one who continued was Rabbi Yitzchak ben Avraham, known by his acronym as the Ritzva.
He was the brother of Rabbi Shimshon of Sens—the Rash of Sens—and together they held the two chief schools of France. The Tosafot printed today on the margins of the Gemara are gathered from several recensions; the work of the Ritzva and his students is one of the layers those pages stand on.
From his house came those who carried the French training onward: with him and with the Ri ha-Zaken studied Rabbi Yehuda ben Yitzchak—Sir Leon—who brought the Dampierre school to Paris and raised the next generation there.
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Sources
Rishonim
- The Tosafot, where his words are cited — his words and his recension, cited by name
- Or Zarua of Rabbi Yitzchak of Vienna — his words, taken into the Ashkenazi code
Basis: documents and evidence.