Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils

Joseph Tov Alem ben Samuel Bonfils (lived in the middle of the eleventh century) was a French rabbi, Talmudist, Bible commentator, and payyeṭan. Of his life nothing is known but that he came from Narbonne, and was rabbi of Limoges in the province of Anjou.

The activity of Bonfils was many-sided. A number of his decisions which earned the high esteem of his contemporaries and of posterity are to be found in the "Mordecai." These passages are enumerated in Kohn's Mordecai ben Hillel, p. 137; in Maḥzor Vitry, and in many other codices and compendiums. Among his numerous legal decisions one deserving mention is that pronouncing money won in play an illegal possession, and compelling the winner to return it ("Haggahot Mordecai," upon Sanh. pp. 722, 723). Another important decision ordered a lighter tax on the Jewish farmer than on the merchant, for the reason that agriculture was less profitable than trade ("Mordecai," B. B. i. 481). Little is known of the collections of his responsa mentioned in Moses Alashkar's Responsa (ed. Sabbionetta, No. 60, p. 121a; No. 100, p. 162a), or of his collection of the responsa of the Geonim. His Bible commentaries, mentioned by some of the old writers, have also disappeared.

Bonfils devoted himself to restoring the correct texts of older works, especially the Masorah—works of the Geonim. His critical notes upon Judah's Halakot Gedolot and the Seder Tannaim we-Amoraim show marked departures from the current text.

The ability and activity of Bonfils are best judged from his contributions to the poetry of the synagogue, no less than sixty-two of his piyyuṭim occupying prominent places in the French, German, and Polish liturgies. These compositions show that he was more than an ordinary poet (Leopold Zunz) among the Franco-German payyeṭanim of his time. Few equaled him in beauty of imagery and facility of expression. The poetry of the synagogue is furthermore deeply indebted to Bonfils for the introduction of the piyyuṭim into the prayers, in face of great opposition. Of his many piyyuṭim, the best-known is that written for "Shabbat HaGadol" (the Sabbath before Passover), beginning with the words "Elohei ha-ruḥot," and containing the rules for the Passover-cleaning ("bi'ur") and the narrative service for the evening.

The importance of Bonfils is shown by the fact that the Tosafists in many places occupy themselves with the explanation of obscure points in this piyyuṭ. Samuel ben Solomon of Falaise, a French Tosafist, composed a commentary upon it.

Joseph Bonfils must not be confused, as he is by Azulai, with another scholar of the same name, who lived in 1200 and corresponded with Simḥah of Speyer (Responsa of Meïr ben Baruch of Rothenburg. ed. Cremona, No. 148).

References

• Azulai. Shem ha-Gedolim, i. 40a:
• Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, pp. 472, 473;
• Gross, Gallia Judaica, pp. 308, 309;
• Leser Landshuth, 'Ammude ha-'Abodah, pp. 96–98;
• Luzzatto, Bet ha-Oẓar, pp. 46b, 55b;
• Rapoport, Introduction to Cassell's ed. of the Responsa of the Geonim, pp. 4b, 6a, 7b;
• Leopold Zunz, Literaturgesch. pp. 129–138;
• idem, Z. G. p. 61;
• idem, G. V., 2d ed., p. 403;
• idem, S. P. pp. 179–180 (translation of a seliḥah);
• Moses Schorr, in He-Ḥaluẓ, viii. 139;
• Adolf Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS. No. 1208, 3, containing a halakic treatise by Joseph Ṭ-ob'Elem, who is probably identical with this Bonfils.

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