Halakha · R' Yitzchak Alfasi (the Rif) · 12th c. · North Africa or Spain · Codex · Halakha · Foundational · Earliest Witness

ספר ההלכות להרי״ף — אולי כתב היד הקדום ביותר

Sefer ha-Halakhot — possibly the earliest extant manuscript of the Rif

12th century · The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary

Sefer ha-Halakhot — the great halakhic compendium of R' Yitzchak Alfasi (the Rif, 1013–1103) — in what is, by all current evidence, the earliest surviving manuscript witness. The Rif's work is a systematic abridgment of the Babylonian Talmud that pulls out the practical halakhic conclusions, tractate by tractate. It became the single most influential halakhic compendium of the medieval period — the framework on which the Rambam built his Mishneh Torah, the framework the Ba'alei ha-Tosafot argued against, and the textual base from which the Rosh, the Tur, and ultimately the Shulchan Arukh would later grow. Among the rishonim it was simply called "the small Talmud." This copy was written in the 12th century, within decades of the Rif's own death, making it one of the closest surviving witnesses to the Rif's text as it left his hands. A downloadable PDF facsimile is also available.