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Nissim, ben-Reuben ben-Nissim

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(Gerundi, so called from his native place, Gerona, in Barcelona), one of the best Talmudic scholars of his time, flourished about 1340-1380, as chief rabbi of Barcelona. He also practiced medicine, and knew something of astronomy; but he opposed Jewish mysticism, and even criticized R. Nachmanides (q.v.) for having spent so much time in the study of the Kabbalah. He wrote Annotations on R. Isaac Alfasi under the title

לְהר י פֵ עִל סֵ הִהֲלָכוֹת, which are generally to be found in Alfasi's Halachoth (Constantinople, 1509; Venice, 1521-22, etc.; Pressb. 1836- 40): — Legal Decisions, שְׁאֵלוֹת וּתְשׁוּבוֹת (Rome, 1545; Cremona, 1586; Salonik, 1758, etc.), which are dated 1349 and 1374: — Elucidations of the Talmud, or novellas, called חַדּוּשַׁים, some of which have been edited, while others are yet in MS.: — Twelve homilies (דְּרָשׁוֹת ) on passages of the Pentateuch (Venice, 1596; Prag. 1812). He is also said to have written a commentary on the Pentateuch. See Furst, Bibl. Jud. 3:37, 38; De Rossi, Dizionario storico degli autori Ebrei e delle lore opere (German transl.), p. 113, 114; Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden, 7:383, 395, 396; 8:34, 37; Jost, Gesch. d. Judenth. u. s. Sekten, 3:87; Lindo, History of the Jews in Spain, p. 159; Finn, Sephardim, p. 299; Etheridge, Introd. to Heb. Literat. p. 267; Cassel, Leitfadenifi juiid. Gesch. u. Literatur, p. 73. (B. P.)