YAʿAQOV BEN ASHER (c. 1270–1343), Hispano-Jewish codifier. Yaʿaqov was a son of the great German halakhist Asher ben Yeḥiʾel, who settled with his family in Toledo in 1303. Yaʿaqov ben Asher never accepted rabbinical office and at times suffered economic adversity, but he continued his father's lifework—the revival of Talmudic studies in Castile and the fusion of Franco-German and Spanish halakhah.

Yaʿaqov's magnum opus was his code, the Arbaʿah ṭurim (lit., "four rows"; see Ex. 28:17). It consists of four books: Oraḥ ḥayyim, on liturgy and holidays; Yoreh deʿah, on "the prohibited and permitted" and other topics, including mourning, charity, education, and filial piety; Even ha-ʿezer, on family law; and Ḥoshen mishpaṭ, on civil law. Yaʿaqov sought to attain coherence and order in Jewish law, but in a manner less...