יום טוב בן יצחק מיואני

Rabbeinu Yom Tov ben Yitzchak of Joigny (d. 4950/1190) was one of the baalei Tosafot, a talmid of Rabbeinu Tam, born in Joigny in France, whose Torah served the young communities of England. His words are brought in Tosafot on several masechtot and in the Tosafot of Rabbi Yehuda Sirleon, and a well-known psak of his holds that one who is mekadesh a woman without the knowledge of her father or relatives, when they are present in the land, is compelled to divorce her.

He was also a paytan, and every year, on the night of Yom Kippur, the kehillot of Ashkenaz still say his selicha Omnam Kein — the plea whose refrain answers the accuser with “indeed, it is so,” and turns to Hashem with salachti.

His life ended as a martyr for the Torah (kedushah). In the massacre of the Jews of York, on Shabbat HaGadol 4950 (March 1190), the community took refuge in the castle tower before a mob demanding their conversion. With no escape remaining, Rabbeinu Yom Tov ruled and led the kehillah in its final avodah: the Jews of York gave up their lives rather than their faith, al kiddush Hashem, and the chronicler records that “Rabbeinu Yom Tov stood and slaughtered some sixty souls” before giving up his own. The paytan Rabbi Yaakov of Chartres wrote a kinah over the destruction, and of Rabbeinu Yom Tov: “his flesh shall dwell secure, it shall not decay — how goodly are your tents, O Yaakov.”