Yehoshua Boaz

Rabbi Yehoshua Boaz ben Shimon Baruch (died 1557) was a Talmudic scholar descended from a Judeo-Spanish family that resettled in Italy following the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. He was active as a rabbinic authority in Sabbioneta and later in Savigliano. He is remembered above all for a suite of reference tools that accompany nearly every printed edition of the Talmud: Ein Mishpat and Ner Mitzvah, which direct the reader from Talmudic rulings to the later law codes; Torah Ohr, an index to the scriptural verses cited in the Talmud; and Masoret HaShas, marginal notes cross-referencing parallel passages. First added to the Venice Talmud editions of 1546-1551, these aids became standard fixtures of the printed page. His Shiltei HaGiborim, printed at Sabbioneta in 1554, comments on the halakhic digest of Isaac Alfasi (the Rif) together with the Mordechai.