points at the end of the discussion. He wrote it in Talmudic Aramaic, sometimes making it difficult to understand. His work had a great influence on Asher ben Yechiel, who, in turn, influenced his son, Jacob ben Asher. Thus, Rabbi Abulafia's legal insights made their way into the Tur. He also penned Halachic responsa in Aramaic, and wrote a commentary on Sefer Yetzirah, entitled Lifnei v'Lifnim. Rabbi Abulafia is credited with writing the authoritative Torah scroll for Spanish Jewry. Scholars came from Germany and North Africa to copy his master copy. He also wrote an authoritative book of regulations about Torah-writing, called Masoret Seyag La-Torah. R. Jedidiah Norzi, the author of Minḥat Shai, was so impressed by his work that he gave to him the honorific title of "expert" in what concerns the accurate text of the Torah. Ha-Meiri, however, in his Kiryat Sefer, was more critical of the masoretic work of Rabbi Abulafia, especially in his layout of the last two lines of the "Song of the Sea" (Shirat ha-Yam), which deviated from the arrangement found in the Aleppo Codex and in Maimonides' Torah scroll. His poem "A Letter from the Grave" is famous because it is a letter he wrote to his father in the name of his sister when she died. It was meant to inform him of her death and comfort him. She died on the Sabbath on the tenth of November 1212. References External links Masoret Seyag La-Torah, by R. Meir Abulafia b. Todros Halevi 1170s births 1244 deaths Year of birth uncertain 13th-century Castilian rabbis Levites Authors of books on Jewish law People from Burgos 12th-century Castilian rabbis