Jonah Ben Judah Gershon

Rabbi and author; died in Wilna 1808. He was dayyan of that city, and devoted his time to the study of the Tosefta, which he considered indispensable to a better understanding of the Mishnah and Gemara. But, finding the text corrupt, he undertook the work of preparing a critical edition of it and of providing it with a commentary by the aid of the citations from the Tosefta in the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds and their early commentaries. He made use also of the annotations of Elijah Wilna, in manuscript. Only the first part of Jonah's work, on "Zera'im," was published (Wilna, 1799). The commentary on the part "Mo'ed" is still in manuscript, in the possession of his grandson Jonah Gerstein.

Bibliography:

  * Fuenn, Ḳiryah Ne'emanah, p. 206;
  * idem, Keneset Yisrael, p. 449.



S. S. N. T. L.