Rabbi Jeruham b. Meshullam, Michael Scot, and the Development of Jewish Law in Fourteenth-Century Spain Judah D. Galinsky, Bar Ilan University, and James T. Robinson, University of Chicago 1 certainly be the fourteenth-century sage Rabbi Jeruham b. Meshullam. During the sixteenth century, he was known as “Tamiri”—“the concealed one”—a moniker given to him by Joseph Karo’s heavenly interlocutor, the Maggid. 2 Years later, David Azulai, the eminent eighteenth-century rabbinic bibliographer, reported that “a number of Rabbis who had composed commentaries on his work . . . were summoned to the heavenly academy [i.e., they died prematurely] or their work was lost.” 3 Even today, scholars who have never opened Jeruham’s books are nevertheless aware of the “curse” hanging over the work of this medieval author. 4 Who was Jeruham b. Meshullam and what did he write? Did his work have attempt to characterize the legal compositions of this author, to evaluate his contri- butions to the development of Jewish law, and to uncover possible reasons for the 1 Although this paper is truly the result of cooperative scholarship, there was, nevertheless, a division of labor. The section “Jeruham from Provence” is primarily the work of James Robinson, it is hoped that the sum is greater than the parts. The authors would like to thank Susan Einbinder for her many helpful suggestions. 2 See R. J. Z. Werblowsky, Joseph Karo: Lawyer and Mystic (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1977) 173. 3 H. Y. D. Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim ha-Shalem, Ma‘arekhet Gedolim, letter yud # 382 (Jerusalem: Y. Tietelbaum, 1979) 1:116a. 4 being edited, reedited, and reprinted, the standard version of Jeruham’s work remains the 1553 Venice edition. Scholars and editors seem to be consciously aware of (and fearful of) the legendary curse. HTR 100:4 (2007) 489–504