Rabbi Yitzhak Alfasi - the Rif - הרי''ף - sometimes the Riaf - הריא''ף- author and judge of "Halchot" R. Alfas and Judge; Kelat Hamad was born in 1013 in Algiers in North Africa near the city of Fes. After the city Fes is called El-Pasi. Died in Lucena on Tuesday 11th Sivan (1103). The Rabbi is at the head of the second generation of rabbis, which arose after the fall of the yeshiva geniuses in Babylon. Alfasi was a student of Rabbi Nissim ben Ya'akov and also a student of Rabbi Hananal ben Hoshiel (ר"ח), who are from Kirwan. After their deaths, Alfasi was a teacher in the Knesset of Israel in North Africa, but his composition "The Laws" was accepted in all the Diaspora of Israel. In 1088 he was forced to leave his homeland because of the whistleblower (at the age of 75, the RIF ruled in a trial against a violent man, and as a result he had to flee to Spain (some say it was a false whistleblower from his enemies)), and he came to live in the city of Córdoba in Spain. There he was honored by the president R. Yosef ben Meir Ibn Sharetmish. From there he went to Granada and after a short time, on the death of his rival Rabbi Yitzchak Ibn Giath, he came to Alucina and filled his place (1089). There he founded a large yeshiva to which many students flocked and was there until the day of his death.
Alfasi had a quarrel with two great men of the generation: Rabbi Yitzchak Ibn Albalia and Rabbi Yitzchak Ibn Giath, a quarrel that lasted until the death of these two opponents. Although the reason for the dispute was not known, it can be assumed that they were not satisfied with the small Talmud "Halchot" or the abridgement of the Talmud, which was accepted in all Diaspora diaspora as a second Talmud. They were afraid that he would cancel the study of the main Talmud. In Rabbi Yitzhak Ibn Albalia's book "The Peddler's Box", it appears that he was opposed to the halakhot files in general, and his desire was to increase the Talmud's gloss and its interpretation to increase the Torah. Nevertheless, when Ibn Albalia fell ill, he called his son Baruch to him, and ordered him to go after his death to al-Fasi, to tell him that his father had forgiven him before his death, and to ask him to keep his eyes on his son. The Alfasi wept when he heard the words of his rival and adopted him Baruch Laban and studied Torah with him.
Alfasi is widely famous for his composition on the Talmud, the book of laws that encompassed 24 tractates in three orders, Moed, Women, and Damages, which were relevant to Halacha in his time. This work was later written under the name "Katan Talmud" or "Katan Shas". Its original name was "Halchot Rabati" and in the Shasim where it is printed "Halchot Rav Alphas". He wrote his book in the format of the Talmud, when he summarizes, copies and concentrates only the things that he thinks pertain to Halacha. In doing so, he created a halachic backbone for the Talmud that facilitates the ruling of the Halacha, as well as the editing of an abbreviated Talmud, to facilitate the distribution and study of the Talmud. In his ruling, the Rabbi established the priority of the Babylonian Talmud. In addition to this, he also included in his composition a few words of legend, in particular those relating to morals, although he omitted most of them because they do not pertain to Halacha. Many commentaries have been compiled on this book, and like Rambam, it has instrumental who tried to find out.
Alfasi founded the great scholars of Yisrael a lot. The more well-known are: Rabbi Ephraim, who is the author of the commentaries on his Rabbi's book, Rabbi Baruch ben Yitzchak Albalia and his great student Rabbi Yosef ben Meir Ibn Migesh, who was about twelve years old when he came from the city of Ashbila to study Torah with him. He studied at his yeshiva for fourteen years, and his rabbi wrote about him "that even in the generation of Moses I will not forget her likeness in wisdom and understanding." And before his death he appointed him a rabbi and head of a yeshiva under him, and preferred him over his son Jacob who was a great rabbi in Torah and wisdom.
In addition, he composed an extensive literature of questions and answers - Shu'at, from which hundreds of answers have come down to us in Hebrew and Arabic. The great Rabbis such as the Rambam, the Rabbad, the Ramban, and Rabbi Baal HaTosaf treated him with extreme admiration and most of the scholars of Halacha treat him As the supreme authority in the rulings of the Halacha. Along with the Maimonides and the Rabbis, the Rabbi is one of the three pillars of teaching on which Rabbi Yosef Karo based his ruling in the Shulchan Aruch, which has been one of the most important foundations of Halacha since it was written.