Rishonim

Rishonim, singular Rishon (Hebrew: "early ones"), refers to the medieval rabbinic authorities who wrote roughly from the 11th through the 15th centuries. The term marks them as the early post-Talmudic interpreters who shaped Jewish law and exegesis before later authorities known as the Acharonim. They followed the Geonim, whose central era was earlier.

Rishonim produced commentaries on the Talmud and the Mishna, as well as biblical commentary and ethical/philosophical writings. They helped establish the methods of Halakhic argument, debated legal problems, and produced early legal codes and novellae. Their work laid the groundwork for later Jewish law and scholarship, and their commentaries remain central to standard editions of the Talmud and Mishna.

Notable figures include Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki), whose commentaries on the Bible and Talmud are foundational; his students and the Tosafists, a school of medieval French-German scholars who wrote critical glosses on the Talmud; Maimonides (Rambam), author of the Mishneh Torah and guide for the perplexed; Nachmanides (Ramban); Rabbeinu Asher (the Rosh); Rashba; Ibn Ezra; and others. Their works were disseminated through manuscripts and the later printing press, enabling a more standardized body of Jewish law and philosophy. The Rishonim era thus represents a crucial phase in the development of Halakha, Talmudic study, and Jewish thought, bridging the Talmudic era and later modern scholarship.