Rabbi Yosef Tov Elem רבי יוסף טוב עלם
the first authority of France, whose rulings Rashi cites
Torah was taught in France before Rashi, and chief among those who taught it was Rabbi Yosef ben Shmuel, called Tov Elem and, in the French manner, Bonfils—"good son". He lived in Limoges and Anjou, apart from the Rhineland schools, and was the first to set the law on French ground.
From him survive rulings on communal taxes—how to divide the levy between rich and poor, merchant and craftsman; they are the earliest French responsa, and Rashi cites them as settled. Piyutim survive too: the great yotzer for Shabbat ha-Gadol setting out the laws of Pesach is still read in Ashkenazi communities.
He is the link usually left out: between Rabbeinu Gershom in Mainz and Rashi in Troyes stood a man on whom Rashi had something to lean.
On the timeline
Places
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Sources
Rishonim
- The responsa of Rabbi Yosef Tov Elem, cited by Rashi and in the Tosafot — the rulings on communal taxes and his generation
- The yotzer for Shabbat ha-Gadol, Elohei ha-Ruchot — his piyut in the Ashkenazi rite
Basis: documents and evidence.