שמואל מפלייזא

Rabbi Shmuel ben Shlomo of Falaise (שמואל מפלייזא), also called Rabbeinu Shmuel of Château-Thierry, was one of the Baalei HaTosafot of Tzarfat in the thirteenth century. His French name was Sir Morel, and he is often called by that name in the writings of the rabbis. He lived in Château-Thierry and in Falaise. Kadesh Urchatz, the short poem at the start of the Haggadah, is attributed to him.

He learned under Rabbi Yehudah Sir Leon, Rabbi Baruch, author of Sefer HaTerumah, Rabbi Shlomo of Dreux and Rabbi David of Metz. Among his talmidim were Rabbi Peretz ben Eliyahu and the Maharam of Rothenburg. In 1240 he was forced, together with Rabbi Yechiel of Paris and other talmidei chachamim, to take part in the public debate in Paris against Nicholas Donin, a Jew who had converted to Christianity. After the debate the Talmud was burned throughout France in 1242, and he had to write his works without sefarim; in one of his teshuvot he laments that the oppressor had taken what was dearest to them and left them no sefer to learn from.

His best-known work is his peirush on Elohei HaRuchot Lechol Basar, the piyyut (liturgical poem) of Rabbi Yosef Tov Elem for Shabbat HaGadol, which sets out the laws of Pesach in verse. Part of it is printed in the Or Zarua, and it has been printed in full from manuscripts. He wrote Tosafot on several masechtot; his Tosafot on Avodah Zarah have come down to us as edited by his talmid Rabbeinu Peretz. His rulings are cited by the Maharam of Rothenburg, the Mordechai and other poskim of that time.

Two of his grandsons wrote peirushim on the Torah: Rabbi Chaim of Falaise, whose peirush is still in manuscript and quotes his grandfather’s explanations, and Rabbi Yitzchak ben Yehudah HaLevi, author of Paneach Raza.

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