Jacob Margolioth of Nuremberg

Jacob ben Moses Margolioth-Jaffe of Nuremberg (Hebrew: רבי יעקב בן משה מרגליות-יפה 10 January 1430 – 1492) was a 15th-century German rabbi and halakhic authority.

Biography

Born on 10 January 1430 in Lucca, Italy, his father Moses Jaffe of Bologna, was a rabbi in Bologna and a member of the Jaffe family; and his mother Margolioth was the daughter of Shmuel Ha-Levi. He was the brother of Abraham of Bohemia. In his early years, his family moved to Nuremberg, Germany, where Jacob studied. His contemporaries Joseph Colon and Judah Minz speak of him as one of the greatest rabbis of his time. It also appears that Jacob had a close relationship with Emperor Frederick III, who would submit Jewish disputes to Jacob. We known of a particular case, where in the quarrel between Moses Capsali and Joseph Colon, Jacob sided with the former. We also know of another instance, where he opposed Jacob Pollack, who is said to have been his pupil. In his later life, he authored a halakhic work known as "Seder Giṭṭin wa-Ḥaliẓah". Jacob later died around 1492 in Worms.