User:Commontater/Aharon ben Yossi HaCohen

Rabbi Aharon ben Yossi HaKohen (or Rabbi Aharon Ba'al HaGan) was a Biblical commentator who lived in northern France in the 13th century. He was one of the Ba'alei Tosafot and was a student of Rabbi Shlomo of Rideaux. He interpreted the Bible according to the plain (Peshat) meaning.

Family
Rabbi Aharon frequently cites the interpretations of his father, Yossi ben Aharon HaKohen, in his book HaGan. It is known from Rabbi Aharon's commentary that he had a son named Tov-Elem.

Importance of his commentary
Even before HaGan was printed in 2009, Rabbi Aharon's writings were known to biblical commentators of the Middle Ages and later generations. These commentators frequently cited his words in their own works. Chaim Yosef David Azulai writes that Isaac ben Judah HaLevi cites HaGan many times in his Biblical Commentary Pa'aneaḥ Raza. According to Samuel Abraham Poznański's hypothesis (in his introduction to printing Rabbi Eliezer of Beaugency's commentary on Ezekiel), Rabbi Aharon lived at the end of the 5th millennium. Poznański adds that because important commentators widely cited Rabbi Aharon's words, he expanded on his words about him and his original work.

Works
Sefer HaGan, commentary on the five books of the Torah, (edited and elucidated by: Yechiel Michel Orlian), Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 5779 2009.