JOSEPH IBN PLAT (, rarely ; not "Pilat," as Grätz deduces from the form , occurring once in "Temim De'im," p. 40; and not identical with Ibn Bulat, or Bolat, of Estella):

By: Meyer Kayserling, Richard Gottheil

Rabbinical authority of the twelfth century; born presumably in southern Spain, whence he went to Provence and settled in Lunel, though Epstein is of opinion that he was born in the Byzantine empire. If this is so, he may be identical with the Joseph ibn whom Benjamin of Tudela met in Damascus ("Itinerary," ed. Asher, i. 48). He also spent some time in Rome, and may have traveled in France, Lorraine, Lombardy, and Spain. According to Joseph ibn Ẓaddiḳ, he was flourishing in the year 1205; according to Abraham b. Solomon of Torrutiel, he died in 1225; but according to others he died before 1198. Abraham b. David, Asher b. Meshullam, and Zerahiah ha-Levi Gerondi, all of Lunel, received oral instruction from him, and he corresponded with Zerahiah, and also with Abraham b. David of Posquières, Maimonides, and Abraham b. Isaac of Narbonne. He wrote a treatise on the prayers entitled "Tiḳḳun Soferim," of which a fragment is extant. His halakic treatises, commentaries on various Talmudic books, such as Nedarim and Ḥullin, are quoted in the "'Iṭṭur" (ii. 18c), the "Kol Bo" (No. 106), and "Shiṭṭah Meḳubbeẓet" to Nedarim (fol. 7d), and extracts are to be found in the Pardes; his name, however, is cited in the last-named only in one long citation on the Benedictions (ed. Constantinople, fol. 39b-41c).

M. K. G.