Tanya Rabbati

Note: Tanya, an important work of Hasidic Judaism, is an unrelated book with a similar name. For other uses, see Tanya (disambiguation).

File:Tanya rabati.jpg

Title page of a 1800 edition of Tanya Rabbati.

Tanya Rabbati is an anonymous work on Jewish law first published in Italy, in 1514 CE. Shibbolei ha-Leket, the first Italian Jewish codification of Jewish law, is an earlier work that is similar in scope and content, but more detailed and further elaborated. Many scholars believe that the Tanya Rabbati is, in fact, an abbreviated version of Shibbolei ha-Leket.

Shibbolei ha-Leket

Shibbolei ha-Leket (Hebrew, "The Gleaned Ears") is concerned with the liturgy, the Passover Haggadah, and laws pertaining to Shabbat and the Jewish Holidays. It was authored by Zedekiah ben Abraham Anav, a 13th-century Italian Talmudist. The work was culled from many Rishonim. Anav "systematized his material skilfully, gave it a concise as well as popular form, and judiciously discriminated between conflicting opinions and decisions, giving preference to those that seemed to him true." It is divided into 372 paragraphs, plus appendices and responsa on topics such as circumcision, mourning, tzitzit, slaughtering, inheritance, and interest. An abridged version was published in Venice (Daniel Bomberg) in 1545, and a complete version in Vilna in 1886.

Tanya Rabbati

Tanya Rabbati discusses Shabbat and the Jewish Holidays. The work is named for its first word, "Tanya", which is Aramaic for "it is stated in a baraita." It is believed to have been authored by Jehiel ben Jekutheil Anav (full name: Jehiel ben Jekutheil ben Benjamin Ha-Rofe Anav), a 13th-century Rabbinic author, manuscript copyist, and liturgical poet. The work was first published in Mantua, and was re-printed in Cremona, 1565, and later in two other editions.

Authorship

As mentioned, several scholars believe that the Tanya Rabbati is an abbreviated version of Shibbolei ha-Leket: - firstly, the two works are similar in content; secondly, Zedekiah ben Abraham Anav and Jehiel ben Jekutheil Anav were in fact related. However, other views exist. S. H. Kook believes that Tanya Rabbati is the first edition of Shibbolei ha-Leket. In this view, Jehiel copied Shibbolei ha-Leket and added his own notes and ideas. In contrast, S. K. Mirsky believes that Jehiel is the original author of Tanya Rabbati. In Mirsky’s view, the many similarities of the Tanya Rabbati to Shibbolei ha-Leket come from the fact that both Jehiel and Zedekiah wrote their works based on the teachings of Judah ben Benjamin Anav, Jehiel’s uncle.

References

• Anaw, Zedekiah b. Abraham, jewishencyclopedia.com