Alfasi, Isaac ben Jacob

Alfasi, Isaac ben Jacob

(born 1013, near Fès, Mor.—died 1103, Lucena, Spain) Moroccan Jewish scholar. He spent most of his life in Fès, but in 1088 he was denounced to the government and was obliged to flee to Spain. He became head of the Jewish community in Lucena and established a noted Talmudic academy, provoking a rebirth of Talmudic study in Spain. His codification of the Talmud, Sefer ha-Halakhot (“Book of Laws”), deals with Halakhah (Hebrew law) and ranks with the works of Maimonides and Karo. It was crucial in establishing the primacy of the Babylonian Talmud over the Palestinian Talmud.