Rabbi Jacob ibn Habib רבי יעקב אבן חביב

He was head of the yeshiva in Zamora, left with the expulsion of 5252, lived briefly in Portugal, and reached Salonika, where half of learned Spain had by then gathered.

What he understood. That a generation which had lost its homes and its books would not lift the law—and without study would fall apart. So he compiled the Ein Yaakov: all the aggadot of the Talmud in sequence, with commentary, so that anyone might open it.

How it ended. He died before finishing the work; it was completed by his son, Rabbi Levi ibn Habib—the Ralbach—who later became head of the rabbis of Jerusalem and is known for the dispute over the renewal of ordination. The father gave the people a book for the house, the son argued whether the Sanhedrin could be restored; both answers are about the same generation.