רבינו אלחנן

Rabbi Elchanan ben Yitzchak of Dampierre (רבינו אלחנן) was a rishon of Tzarfat in the twelfth century, one of the Baalei HaTosafot and a paytan (liturgical poet). His tosafot on masechet Avodah Zarah, Tosafot Rabbeinu Elchanan, are in print.

He was the son and talmid of the Ri HaZaken, one of the greatest of the Baalei HaTosafot, and a descendant of Rashi on both his father’s and his mother’s side. He wrote Seder Tikkun Tefillin, Sod HaIbbur and Sefer Likkutin, and several of his piyyutim (liturgical poems) have survived. He was killed al kiddush Hashem in the persecutions of 1184, while his father was still alive. Rabbi Yosef Colon, the Maharik, wrote that there are no greater poskim than Rabbeinu Yitzchak and Rabbeinu Elchanan.

He wrote tosafot on many masechtot. Those on Avodah Zarah, written around 1182, have reached us and end at daf 35; the Rosh, in his Tosafot HaRosh on Avodah Zarah, also brings from Rabbeinu Elchanan’s tosafot up to that daf. They were first printed from a manuscript in 1901, and a new edition with notes was printed in Bnei Brak in 2003. The printed Tosafot on Avodah Zarah, compiled by a talmid of Rabbeinu Peretz, most likely draw mainly on his tosafot, as do the printed Tosafot on Shevuot, compiled by Rabbi Eliezer of Touques, and those on Chagigah.

He is named several times in the printed Tosafot. His son, Rabbi Shmuel, is mentioned in Tosafot on masechet Arachin.

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