Joseph Trani

Who was Joseph Trani?

Joseph Trani or Joseph di Trani was a Talmudist of the latter part of the 16th century who lived in Greece. By contemporary scholars he was called Mahrimat, and regarded as one of the foremost Talmudists of his time. Today he is more widely known as Maharit.

He was the author of She'elot u-Teshubot, a work in three parts: part i comprises 152 responsa, together with a general index; part ii consists of 111 responsa in the order of the first three parts of the ritual codex; part iii contains responsa to the fourth part of the ritual codex, together with novellæ to the tractate Ḳiddushin, and supercommentaries on RaN's and Alfasi's commentaries on the tractates Ketubot and Ḳiddushin. The entire work appeared in Fürth in 1764. Joseph also published novellæ to the treatises Shabbat, Ketubot, and Kiddushin, and the responsa which were embodied in Alfandari's Maggid me-Reshit. He left several commentaries in manuscript on Alfasi, on Maimonides' Yad, and on R. Nathan's Aruk.

In 2008, Trani's grave was discovered in Safed by the noted bibliophile and book dealer Shlomo Epstein, near the grave of Rabbi Moshe Alshich. Although the Maharit died and was buried in Constantinople, his sons later transferred his remains to Safed as he had requested so that he could be interred near his father, Moshe di Trani.