Asser

Asser, or more correctly Ashe, the principal author of the Babylonian Talmud. He was born at Babylon A.D. 353 (A.M. 4113). His Jewish biographers relate that he was appointed head of the college of Sori, in Babylon, at the age of fourteen! He held this post till his death in 426. Rabbi' Abraham benDior asserts, in his Kabbalah, p. 68, that since the days of Rabbi Jehuda- Hannasi, or Rabbenu-Hakkadosh, in no one but Ashe had been combined at once knowledge of the law, piety, humility, and magnificence. His fame attracted to his lectures many thousands of students. The expositions of the Mishna which he delivered in his lectures were collected, and form the basis of the Babylonian Talmud. The continuation was the work of his disciples and followers: it was completed seventy-three years after the death of Ashe by R. Jose, president of the college of Pumbedita in Balylon. (Compare the Tsema h David, first part, in the years 4127 and 4187; Sepher Juchtson, fol. 117; Hal'choth Olam, p. 18; Wolfii Bibliotheca Ilebrea, i, 224.) SEE TALMUD.

⇒See also the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.