Isaac ben Dorbolo

Isaac ben Dorbolo (Hebrew: יצחק ב"ר דורבלו/ן) was a rabbi, about 1150.

He traveled much, and knew Poland, Russia, Bohemia, France, and Germany from his own observations. Some time after 1140 he visited Rabbeinu Tam in Ramerupt.

In Worms, where he remained for some time, he reports having seen a responsum from the rabbis of Palestine in answer to a question addressed to them in 960 (at the time of Emperor Otto I) by the Rhenish rabbis concerning the reported appearance of the Messiah. Though this responsum is mentioned in different sources,^[1] its historical character has been questioned.^[2]

According to Leopold Zunz,^[3] Isaac's father is identical with the correspondent of Rashi and the martyr of the First Crusade of the same name; but this is chronologically impossible. Rapoport wrongly connected Isaac with Isaac of Ourville, author of the lost Sefer ha-Menahel; and Solomon Marcus Schiller-Szinessy, with Isaac of Russia.

Isaac is mainly known through his additions to Maḥzor Vitry, although did not compile the Machzor as Charles Taylor supposed. These additions are indicated either by the author's full name or by a simple ת (= Tosefet), and appear in MS BL 27,200–27,201, the manuscript on which all modern editions are based.

Isaac is also cited in MS Montefiore 134 (f. 40v, 101v [later hand?]), in Minhagim asher Yaga'ti uMatzati (MS Vienna hebr. 12a, f 312r), in Shibbolei haLeket (Hilkhos Tefillin 2, 16), and perhaps in Kol Bo (an "Isaac" is quoted several times about tefillin in #21).^[4]

References

1. The Bern MS. of the small Arukh (Grätz Jubelschrift, p. 31) and Liwa Kirchheim's Minhage Worms (Kaufmann Gedenkbuch, p. 297).
2. Brüll's Jahrbuch. ii. 77; Jubelschrift, l.c.; but see Rev. Et. Juives, xliv. 237.
3. G.S. ii. 32.
4. Monatsschrift, xli. 307.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "DORBOLO". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Its bibliography:

• Gross, in Berliner's Magazin, x. 75;
• Introduction to the Maḥzor Vitry, ed. Hurwitz, p. 36;
• Perles, in Grätz Jubelschrift, p. 31;
• Berliner, ib., pp. 176, 177;
• Epstein, in Monatsschrift, xli. 307;
• Charles Taylor, Appendix to The Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, pp. 12 et seq., Cambridge, 1900.