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Rabbenu Tam's name was יעקב בן מאיר. Why then is he known as Rabbenu Tam?

Loewian
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Gershon Gold
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3 Answers3

22

Ya'akov Avinu was known as an ish tam. Since they shared the first name Ya'akov (and possibly some personal character traits), one's appelation was applied to the other.

WAF
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9

I've heared that Rabbenu Tam made a gzeira that cancels the curse of "ו תם לריק כוחכם", hence he is called Tam. [See Tosfos to Kesuvos 47b, and Sefer Hayashar 788]

Here is a source that states this.

chortkov2
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jutky
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    Very strange that he is nicknamed after the curse and not the refuah. – YDK May 22 '11 at 14:22
  • He canceled the curse, it's may be called type of refuah. – jutky May 22 '11 at 18:14
  • So it's a double play on words that the gezeirah of "Tam" was Tam? – YDK May 22 '11 at 20:50
  • It's not a play on words, you don't need the lat Tam. Just: "He canceled gzeira of Tam". – jutky May 23 '11 at 11:30
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    So, if he would have stopped the curse of pestilence they would call him Rabbeinu Dever?? – YDK May 23 '11 at 14:21
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    what's that curse? – ertert3terte Mar 02 '12 at 18:46
  • Can you please [edit] this post to explain which gzeira you refer to? Also, your link is dead. (It looks like you may be able to use http://www.daat.ac.il/encyclopedia/value.asp?id1=1684; there's a הערה on the bottom of the page that quotes a similar idea, citing הגהות מהרי"ד על התו"כ (בחוקותי א' א"ג – MTL May 09 '17 at 23:50
  • Another source for this is brought in the סדר דורות הקצר on p.143 – Dov Nov 10 '20 at 22:04
4

In addition to WAF's answer, which is definitely correct, we need to add one thing. There were many rabbis named יעקב who did not get called תם (R. Yaakov of Orleans, R. Yaakov ben Yakar and others). Why did specifically this יעקב get to be רבינו תם?

To quote from Wikipedia,

Rashi's oldest daughter, Yocheved, married Meir ben Samuel; their four sons were Shmuel (Rashbam) (born 1080), Yitzchak (Rivam) (born 1090), Jacob (Rabbeinu Tam) (born 1100), and Shlomo the Grammarian, all of whom were among the most prolific of the Baalei Tosafot, leading rabbinic authorities who wrote critical and explanatory glosses on the Talmud which appear opposite Rashi's commentary on every page of the Talmud.

The second and third sons are יצחק and יעקב, which when given their acronym, would have two people named ריב׳׳ם. To distinguish between R. Yitzchak ben Meir and R. Yaakov ben Meir, we call Yaakov "תם", for the reason that WAF explained: יעקב איש תם, to avoid confusion between the two brothers.

moses
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