Isaac of Ourville

Isaac of Ourville (Hebrew: יצחק מאורביל‎ Yiṣḥaq me-Orvil, fl. late 13th century[1]) was a medieval French rabbi, author of the as yet unpublished Menahel, a book of halakha (Jewish ritual law).

Isaac appears to have been a contemporary of Perez of Corbeil (died c. 1297);[2] Isaac cites Moses of Coucy's Semag, from the generation before Perez, while segments of Isaac's Menahel are, in turn, cited alongside the Perez's teachings.[3] His master was Hayyim of Blois,[4] who is possibly identical with Hayyim ben Isaac the Frenchman (Hebrew: חיים בן יצחק הצרפתי‎), the author of Ez Hayyim on Jewish monetary law, a disciple of Samuel of Evreux.[3]

Carmoly and others read אורביל‎ as "Orbeil", a village in the Puy-de-Dôme department, while Gross considered this unlikely, as Orbeil probably had no Jewish population in medieval times. According to Gross, אורביל‎ is probably Ourville (Ourville-en-Caux), Seine-Maritime, or perhaps Orville, Orne.[4] Isaac is thus sometimes named האורבלי‎ HaOrvili (or HaOrbeli). He was confused by Samuel David Luzzato with a similarly named rabbinical authority, Isaac ben Dorbolo, after Rapoport's misinterpretation of the latter's patronymic as "d'Orbolo".[5]

Selections of his halakhic book, HaMenahel (Hebrew: המנהל‎ "the Guide"), were incorporated in the closely related pair of halakhic works, Orhot Hayyim by Aaron ben Jacob ha-Kohen and Kol Bo,[4] and, anonymously, in the halakhic decisions of Menahem Recanati.[1] Once considered lost, parts of the Menahel are now known to exist in manuscript.[1]