ISAAC BEN SHESHET BARFAT: Spanish Jewish talmudist; b. at Valencia in 1326; d. at Algiers in 1408. He studied at Barcelona, where he also began his life-work, early gaining a reputation as a talmudist and being called upon for legal opinions. When fifty he became rabbi, removed later to Saragossa, and thence to Valencia. In 1391, in consequence of persecution of the Jews, he fled, going to Algiers, where he was made rabbi. He was the author of 417 "responsa" which have been highly valued by competent authorities, published as She ’elot u-Teshubot (Constantinople, 1546-47); and possibly of an unpublished commentary on the Pentateuch.