Jacob Ben Judah Ḥazzan Of London:

By: Joseph Jacobs

English codifier of the thirteenth century. His grandfather was one Jacob he-Aruk (possibly Jacob le Long). In 1287 Jacob wrote "'Eẓ Ḥayyim," a ritual code in two parts, containing sixty and forty-six sections respectively, dealing with the whole sphere of Halakah, and following in large measure Maimonides in the Mishneh Torah, though Jacob utilized also the "Halakot Gedolot," the "Siddur" of R. Amram, and the works of Moses of Coucy, Alfasi, and the tosafists. He quotes, furthermore, Isaac ben Abraham, Moses of London, and Berechiah of Nicole (Lincoln). Some verses by him are also extant ("J. Q. R." v. 359). The "'Eẓ Ḥayyim" still exists in a manuscript which formerly belonged to Wagenseil and is now in the Rathsbibliothek at Leipsic.

The work is of interest as the chief literary production of an English Jew before the Expulsion, and gives an account of the ritual followed by the Jews of England at that date, a full analysis of which is given by D. Kaufmann in "J. Q. R." iv. 20-64, 550-561. The only part of the work that has been published is the section edited by H. Adler in the "Steinschneider Festschrift" (Hebr. section, pp. 156-208).