SHEMARIAH B. MORDECAI (called also Shemariah of Speyer):
German tosafist of the first half of the twelfth century; pupil of the tosafist Isaac b. Asher. He was considered an especially eminent authority on religious rites ("ba'al ma'asim"), and seems to have written "posḳim" (decisions); no less a person than Jacob b. Meïr Tam consulted him on a difficult question ("Or Zarua'" on B. B. 199).
Those of Shemariah's pupils most deserving mention are Judah b. Kalonymus b. Meïr, author of "Yiḥuse Tannaim wa-Amoraim," and Judah b. Kalonymus, father of Eleazar of Worms. The former usually calls him "mori ha-yashish" (my aged teacher), which seems to indicate that Shemariah died at an advanced age. It is, however, not true that Eleazar of Worms also was his pupil, as has been asserted by some.
Bibliography:
- Epstein, Das Talmudische Lexicon, in Monatsschrift, xxxix. 453-454 (also printed separately);
- Kohn, Mardochai b. Hillel, p. 152.
