Ḥasdai Ben Solomon

Spanish rabbi; born probably in Tudela. He was a pupil of R. Nissim Gerondi in Barcelona. His friend (and probably fellow pupil) Isaac b. Sheshet calls him the "Spanish worthy." He officiated as rabbi until 1379, when the plague broke out in Tudela. Still unmarried, he went to Valencia, where he found a position as rabbi. Ḥasdai, who corresponded with Ḥasdai Crescas, Isaac b. Sheshet, and others, in his stern piety opposed Ḥayyim Galipapa of Pamplona, who had introduced certain ritualistic changes into his community. He objected to the reading inSpanish of the Esther roll; and in Fraga, where he stopped on a journey, he unsuccessfully attempted to force the community to change a custom which had crept into the liturgy through ignorance.

Bibliography:

  * Isaac b. Sheshet, Responsa, Nos. 37, 373, 391, 445;
  * Kayserling, Gesch. der Juden in Spanien, i. 87;
  * Grätz, Gesch. viii. 36.



G. M. K.