הרי״ף

The Rif, Rabbi Yitzchak Alfasi, is the man who bridged the sea of the Talmud and the shore of practical law. In North Africa, in the city of Fez in Morocco, he saw that many learners were drowning in the sea of discussions and did not know the practical law, and composed the 'Sefer HaHalachot,' in which he distilled from every tractate the halachic conclusion, in the language of the Talmud itself.

This work changed the face of study. The Rif did not write a new composition but a 'little Talmud,' which leads the learner from the discussion to the ruling without losing his way. His book became a foundation upon which all who came after built, and Maimonides himself leaned on it, as did Rabbi Yosef Karo in the Beit Yosef.

At the end of his days he moved from Fez to Spain, and there, at about seventy-five, before his death he appointed his student Rabbi Yosef ibn Migash as head of the academy over his own son, out of complete integrity, for he saw in him the greater man. His greatness lay also in this decision, that truth comes before family.

What do we learn from him? That there is great wisdom in distilling, taking a whole sea and drawing from it the clear drop of practice. The Rif teaches that making the law accessible is sacred work, and that a true leader chooses his heir by his greatness and not by his kinship, even when the price is his own son's honor.