(Rashbatz) Rabbi Shimon ben Tzemach Duran

Rabbi Shimon ben Tzemach Duran (the Rashbatz) was born in Majorca in 1361. He trained as a physician and surgeon as well as a Talmudist. The riots of 1391 reached Majorca, and he lost his fortune and fled with his family to Algiers. There he served beside the Rivash and succeeded him as chief rabbi in 1408. Because he had no other income, he accepted a salary as rabbi, and he defended the practice in writing, a turning point in the history of the rabbinate.

His responsa, Sefer HaTashbetz, run to some 800 answers and became a pillar of North African Jewish law. His Magen Avot, on the tractate Avot, discusses philosophy and reduces the principles of faith to three: God's existence, the divine origin of the Torah, and reward and punishment. Joseph Albo later popularized that scheme. His son Shlomo (the Rashbash) and their descendants led the Jews of Algiers for generations.