ריא"ז

The Riaz, Rabbi Yeshayah ben Eliyahu di Trani (ריא”ז), was a rishon of Italy who was niftar around 1280. His name stands for Rabbi Yeshayah Acharon z"l, “the later Rabbi Yeshayah”, to set him apart from his mother’s father, Rabbi Yeshayah di Trani the elder, the Rid.

According to Shalshelet HaKabbalah, the Rid said before his passing that his daughter’s son would be his heir, and the Riaz did carry on his grandfather’s mastery of the Gemara, its commentators and its chiddushim.

Like his grandfather, he wrote a sefer of psakim following the order of the Talmud, but he left out all peirush and analysis of the sugya and kept only the halacha for practice, in the manner of the Rif’s Halachot, dealing with the halacha that applies in our time. His Piskei HaRiaz are written in short, clear language, entirely in Hebrew rather than the usual mix of Hebrew and Aramaic, and they are set out in careful order as a summary of the conclusions of the Talmud. Before each masechet he gives a brief outline of its contents and brings the pesukim on which its halachot rest.

He quotes his grandfather often, calling him “Mori Zekeni HaRav” (my teacher, my grandfather, the Rav), and in many places disagrees with him. For the reasoning behind a ruling he sends the reader to his Kuntres HaReayot, which has survived only for a few masechtot: Bava Metzia, Makkot, Sanhedrin and Shevuot.

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