
Building on a string of focused studies, Judah Galinsky has published the definitive assessment of ’Amudei Golah (Pillars of Exile), aptly designated “a medieval bestseller.” Isaac of Corbeil (d. 1280) authored the work in c. 1276-7 while teaching largely in Corbeil, the center of Talmudic study in later thirteenth-century northern France. While respected for his learning and the son-in-law of the famed Rabbi Yehiel of Paris, Isaac was not himself a leading rabbinic authority of his generation. Nevertheless, he produced what became one of the most popular Hebrew works of the Middle Ages. Over 200 manuscripts of ’Amudei Golah —better known today as Sefer Mitzvot Katan—survive from the Middle Ages, most of which were glossed by either Peretz of Corbeil (d. c. 1295) or Moses of Zurich (14th cent.). This is an astounding number, comparable only to that of Rashi’s famed commentary on the Pentateuch. Galinsky highlights how Isaac structured ’Amudei Golah according to his specific educational outlook and with deep awareness for the needs of his generation. This intentionality successfully transformed the work into a classic during the Middle Ages and beyond.
Continue reading Research Spotlight: Albert Evan Kohn, review of Judah D. Galinsky, The Making of a Medieval Bestseller: Rabbi Isaac of Corbeil’s Pillars of Exile and Its Readers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025)