Tashbetz — Shimon ben Tzemaḥ Duran (Rashbatz)

Tashbetz (acronym of Teshuvot Shimon ben Tzemaḥ) — a vast collection of responsa by the Rashbatz (1361-1444), chief rabbi of Algiers post-1391. Together with the responsa of the Rivash, the Tashbetz is the cornerstone of fifteenth-century Maghrebi halakha and remains a reference throughout Sephardic Judaism. The Rashbatz, exiled from Palma de Mallorca to Algiers after the pogroms of 1391, codifies there the post-traumatic halakhic practice: matrimonial effects of the expulsions, status of the anusim (forced converts), reorganization of minhag, articulation with non-Jewish authority. Provenance: 1 Composed in Algiers between 1391 and 1444 2 Manuscript circulation in Maghrebi Judaism 15th-18th c. 3 Editio princeps: Amsterdam, 1738-1741 (4 parts) Codicological notice — origin Algiers, central Maghreb, Algeria; script: Sephardic; editorial status: Partial edition available. — Source: Mémoires des Manuscrits Juifs du Moyen-Âge Maghrébin (MMJMM), https://mmjmm.org/corpus/catalogue/to-locate-duran-tashbetz.

Sources & resources

• Editio princeps : Sefer ha-Tashbetz, 4 parties, Amsterdam, 1738-1741.
• Encyclopaedia Judaica, article « Duran, Simeon b. Zemah ».
• Hirschberg, H. Z. A History of the Jews in North Africa, Brill, 1974-1981.
• Fiche MMJMM : https://mmjmm.org/corpus/catalogue/to-locate-duran-tashbetz