# Isaac ben Samuel

Isaac ben Samuel the Elder (c. 1115 – c. 1184), also known as the Ri ha-Zaken (Hebrew: ר"י הזקן), was a French tosafist and Biblical commentator. He flourished at Ramerupt and Dampierre, France in the twelfth century. He is the father of Elhanan ben Isaac of Dampierre.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Rabbeinu Tam | Rabbeinu Tam | Rabbeinu Tam | Rabbeinu Tam | Rabbeinu Tam | Rabbeinu Tam | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Isaac ben Samuel | Isaac ben Samuel | Isaac ben Samuel | Isaac ben Samuel | Isaac ben Samuel | Isaac ben Samuel | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Isaac ben Abraham of Dampierre | Isaac ben Abraham of Dampierre | Isaac ben Abraham of Dampierre | Isaac ben Abraham of Dampierre | Isaac ben Abraham of Dampierre | Isaac ben Abraham of Dampierre | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | Abraham ben Nathan | Abraham ben Nathan | Abraham ben Nathan | Abraham ben Nathan | Abraham ben Nathan | Abraham ben Nathan | Samson ben Abraham of Sens | Samson ben Abraham of Sens | Samson ben Abraham of Sens | Samson ben Abraham of Sens | Samson ben Abraham of Sens | Samson ben Abraham of Sens | Baruch ben Isaac | Baruch ben Isaac | Baruch ben Isaac | Baruch ben Isaac | Baruch ben Isaac | Baruch ben Isaac |

## Biography

Through his mother he was a great-grandson of Rashi and through his father he was a grandson of Simhah ben Samuel of Vitry. He was surnamed "ha-Zaḳen" (the elder) to distinguish him from another tosafist of the same name, Isaac ben Abraham surnamed "ha-Baḥur" (the younger). He is often quoted as R. Isaac of Dampierre. but it seems that he lived first at Ramerupt, where his maternal grandfather resided. It was also at Ramerupt that he studied under his uncle Rabbeinu Tam after the latter had gone to Troyes, Isaac b. Samuel directed his school.
Isaac settled at Dampierre later, and founded there a flourishing and well-attended school. It is said that he had sixty pupils, each of whom, besides being generally well grounded in Talmud, knew an entire treatise by heart, so that the whole Talmud was stored in the memories of his pupils. As he lived under Philip Augustus, at whose hands the Jews suffered much, Isaac prohibited the buying of confiscated Jewish property, and ordered that any so bought be restored to its original owner. A particular interest attaches to one of his responsa, in which he relies on the oral testimony of his aunt, the wife of R. Isaac b. Meïr, and on that of the wife of R. Eleazar of Worms, a great-granddaughter of Rashi.
He died, according to Heinrich Graetz about 1200; according to Henri Gross between 1185 and 1195; and as he is known to have reached an advanced age, Gross supposes that he was not born later than 1115. On the other hand, Michael says that as Isaac b. Samuel was spoken of as "the sainted master" a term generally given to martyrs, he may have been killed at the same time as his son Elhanan (1184).

## Tosafot

Isaac's tosafot completed the commentary of Rashi on the Talmud (Romm included in his edition of the Talmud the commentary of Abraham of Montpellier on Kiddushin, misidentified as Isaac's tosafot.). He also compiled and edited with great erudition all the preceding explanations to Rashi's commentary. His first collection was entitled Tosefot Yeshanim, which, however, was afterward revised and developed. He is quoted on almost every page of the Tosafot, and in various works, especially in the Sefer ha-Terumah of his pupil Baruch ben Isaac of Worms, and in the Or Zarua of Isaac ben Moses.
Isaac is mentioned as a Biblical commentator by Judah ben Eliezer, who quotes also a work of Isaac's entitled Yalkutei Midrash; by Isaac ha-Levi; by Hezekiah ben Manoah in his Ḥazzeḳuni; and in two other commentaries. Isaac is supposed to be the author also of several liturgical poems, of a piyyuṭ to the hafṭarah, and of a piyyuṭ for Purim. The authorship of these piyyuṭim may, however, belong to the liturgical writer Isaac ben Samuel of Narbonne.
vteRashi family tree :
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Isaac Hatzarfati | Isaac Hatzarfati | Isaac Hatzarfati | Isaac Hatzarfati | Isaac Hatzarfati | Isaac Hatzarfati | | |
| | | | | | | | | Samuel | Samuel | Samuel | Samuel | Samuel | Samuel | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rashi | Rashi | Rashi | Rashi | Rashi | Rashi | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | Meir | Meir | Meir | Meir | Meir | Meir | | | Jochebed | Jochebed | Jochebed | Jochebed | Jochebed | Jochebed | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rachel | Rachel | Rachel | Rachel | Rachel | Rachel | | | Eliezer | Eliezer | Eliezer | Eliezer | Eliezer | Eliezer | Miriam | Miriam | Miriam | Miriam | Miriam | Miriam | | | Judah ben Nathan | Judah ben Nathan | Judah ben Nathan | Judah ben Nathan | Judah ben Nathan | Judah ben Nathan |
| Samuel ben Meir | Samuel ben Meir | Samuel ben Meir | Samuel ben Meir | Samuel ben Meir | Samuel ben Meir | | | Rabbeinu Tam | Rabbeinu Tam | Rabbeinu Tam | Rabbeinu Tam | Rabbeinu Tam | Rabbeinu Tam | | | Miriam | Miriam | Miriam | Miriam | Miriam | Miriam | | | Samson ben Yosef | Samson ben Yosef | Samson ben Yosef | Samson ben Yosef | Samson ben Yosef | Samson ben Yosef | | | Rivam | Rivam | Rivam | Rivam | Rivam | Rivam | | | Solomon ben Meir | Solomon ben Meir | Solomon ben Meir | Solomon ben Meir | Solomon ben Meir | Solomon ben Meir | Miriam | Miriam | Miriam | Miriam | Miriam | Miriam | | | Samuel of Vitry | Samuel of Vitry | Samuel of Vitry | Samuel of Vitry | Samuel of Vitry | Samuel of Vitry | | | Yom Tov | Yom Tov | Yom Tov | Yom Tov | Yom Tov | Yom Tov | | | Eliezer? | Eliezer? | Eliezer? | Eliezer? | Eliezer? | Eliezer? | | |
| Isaac | Isaac | Isaac | Isaac | Isaac | Isaac | Joseph | Joseph | Joseph | Joseph | Joseph | Joseph | | | Solomon | Solomon | Solomon | Solomon | Solomon | Solomon | | | Abraham of Sens | Abraham of Sens | Abraham of Sens | Abraham of Sens | Abraham of Sens | Abraham of Sens | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Judah ben Yom Tov | Judah ben Yom Tov | Judah ben Yom Tov | Judah ben Yom Tov | Judah ben Yom Tov | Judah ben Yom Tov | | | Joseph | Joseph | Joseph | Joseph | Joseph | Joseph | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Isaac ben Samuel | Isaac ben Samuel | Isaac ben Samuel | Isaac ben Samuel | Isaac ben Samuel | Isaac ben Samuel | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Isaac of Dampierre | Isaac of Dampierre | Isaac of Dampierre | Isaac of Dampierre | Isaac of Dampierre | Isaac of Dampierre | | | Samson ben Abraham | Samson ben Abraham | Samson ben Abraham | Samson ben Abraham | Samson ben Abraham | Samson ben Abraham | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Isaac | Isaac | Isaac | Isaac | Isaac | Isaac | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Isaac of Dampierre | Isaac of Dampierre | Isaac of Dampierre | Isaac of Dampierre | Isaac of Dampierre | Isaac of Dampierre | | | Samson ben Abraham | Samson ben Abraham | Samson ben Abraham | Samson ben Abraham | Samson ben Abraham | Samson ben Abraham | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Isaac | Isaac | Isaac | Isaac | Isaac | Isaac | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rabbeinu Elhanan | Rabbeinu Elhanan | Rabbeinu Elhanan | Rabbeinu Elhanan | Rabbeinu Elhanan | Rabbeinu Elhanan | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rabbi Jacob | Rabbi Jacob | Rabbi Jacob | Rabbi Jacob | Rabbi Jacob | Rabbi Jacob | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | | | | | | | | | | | Rabbeinu Elhanan | Rabbeinu Elhanan | Rabbeinu Elhanan | Rabbeinu Elhanan | Rabbeinu Elhanan | Rabbeinu Elhanan | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rabbi Jacob | Rabbi Jacob | Rabbi Jacob | Rabbi Jacob | Rabbi Jacob | Rabbi Jacob | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon | | | | | | | | | | | Samuel ben Elhanan | Samuel ben Elhanan | Samuel ben Elhanan | Samuel ben Elhanan | Samuel ben Elhanan | Samuel ben Elhanan | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Samuel of Acre | Samuel of Acre | Samuel of Acre | Samuel of Acre | Samuel of Acre | Samuel of Acre | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Samuel ben Elhanan | Samuel ben Elhanan | Samuel ben Elhanan | Samuel ben Elhanan | Samuel ben Elhanan | Samuel ben Elhanan |
Notes:
Rashi's daughters :