IBN EZRA, JOSEPH BEN ISAAC

IBN EZRA, JOSEPH BEN ISAAC (c. 1560–1620), rabbi and author. Joseph ibn Ezra was born in Constantinople and at the age of seventeen he went to salonika , where he studied under samuel di medina and Aaron b. Solomon b. Ḥasson in Salonika. He was active as a teacher in the yeshivah of Don David b. Yaḥya where he attracted numerous pupils, including Meir b. Shem Tov Melamed and Shabbetai Jonah. Later he served as rabbi of Larissa and of Sofia. He was among the most respected Turkish rabbis and halakhic authorities of his time. He was the author of Rosh Yosef, novellae on the Tur, Ḥoshen Mishpat, of which the part (to ch. 163) dealing with community taxation and administration was published with the title Massa Melekh (Salonika, 1601). He also wrote novellae to the Tur Even-ha-Ezer, giving them the same title Rosh Yosef. Other works include Aẓmot Yosef (Salonika, 1601, et al.), a commentary on tractate Kiddushin for practical halakhah; a commentary on Bava Meẓia; and responsa, some of which were published in the Mishpat Ẓedek (Salonika, 1799; Pt. 2 no. 31) of Meir Melamed, in the Shai la-Mora (Salonika, 1671; no. 2) of Shabbetai Jonah, in the responsa of Solomon ha-Kohen, and in Samuel Ḥayyun's Benei Shemu'el. Ibn Ezra died in sofia . -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Conforte, Kore, 39b f., 43b f., 46a, 47a; Michael, Or, 148; Rosanes, Togarmah, 3 (19382), 55, 79, 106; M.D. Gaon, Yehudei ha-Mizraḥ be-Ereẓ Yisrael, 2 (1938), 508. (Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany)