18 Nisan · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Meir HaLevi Abulafia - "Yad Rama"
Rabbi Meir HaLevi ben Todros Abulafia (1170–1244) - Rama
Yahrzeit - 18 Nisan
Resting place - Toledo
Rabbi Meir Abulafia was a major Sephardic Talmudist and halachic authority in medieval Spain.
He was a descendant of a wealthy and learned family, the son of Todros ben Yehuda, to whom the physician Yehuda ben Isaac dedicated his poem "The Battle of Wisdom and Wealth," published in 1214.
By the age of 30 he was already one of three appointed rabbis on the Toledo Beit Din (one of the other two being the son of Yosef ibn Migash, Meir). As the Spanish kings granted the Jews greater self-governance, Rabbi Abulafia played a significant role in establishing ritual regulations for Spanish Jewry. He was also the head of an important yeshiva in Toledo. He was held in such esteem in Toledo that after his father's death in 1225, the honorary title of Nasi (prince) was applied to him.
He is well known for having initiated the first Maimonidean controversy over the Mishneh Torah while the Rambam (Maimonides) was still alive. Outraged by what he saw as Maimonides' apparent disbelief in the physical resurrection of the dead, Abulafia wrote a series of letters to the French Jews of Lunel. To his shock and disappointment, they sided with the Rambam. Thirty years later, when controversy flared up again over the Rambam's "Guide for the Perplexed" and the first book of the Mishneh Torah, Rabbi Abulafia refused to take part. Rabbi Abulafia was also opposed to the study of philosophy.
Works
Rabbi Abulafia was a prolific writer. He wrote a massive volume of novellae on the Talmud called "Peratei Peratin" (Details of Details). He followed the style of the Rif and was clearly influenced by Hai Gaon, Sherira Gaon, Yosef ibn Migash, Rashi, and the Rambam. The only surviving sections of this work are those devoted to tractates Bava Batra, Sanhedrin, Kiddushin, and part of the fourth chapter of tractate Gittin, each known as "Yad Rama" ("Raised Hand").
His works greatly influenced Rabbi Asher ben Yechiel, who in turn influenced his son Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher. Thus, Rabbi Abulafia's ideas influenced the Tur.
He also wrote halachic responsa in Aramaic and composed a commentary on Sefer Yetzirah called Lifnei ve-Lifnim. Rabbi Abulafia is credited with writing an authoritative Torah scroll for Spanish Jewry. Scholars came from Germany and North Africa to copy his master copy. He also wrote an authoritative book of rules for writing a Torah scroll called "Masoret Siyag LaTorah."
His poem "Letter from the Grave" is notable in that it was a letter he wrote to his father in the name of his sister after she died. It was meant to inform him of her death and to comfort him. She died on Shabbat, the tenth of November, 1212.
May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael!
(https://dailyzohar.com/tzadikim/944-Rabbi-Meir-Abulafia)