Petter ben Joseph
PETTER BEN JOSEPH (12th century), tosafist. Petter came from Carinthia in Austria and was a pupil of *Samuel b. Meir and of his brother, Jacob *Tam. He participated in the editing of R. Tam's Sefer ha-Yashar, to which he made additions. Petter maintained a halakhic correspondence with R. Tam and with *Isaac b. Melchizedek of Siponto and it is probable that the quotations from the latter in the Sefer ha-Yashar were included by Petter. He was also an associate of *Isaac ha-Lavan, who quotes him in his tosafot. Most of the statements of Petter in the printed tosafot also appear in the Sefer ha-Yashar. He met a martyr's death at an early age during the Second Crusade, and Jacob of Bonn eulogized him in the highest terms.
With regard to the unusual name "Petter" being borne by a pupil of R. Tam, it is interesting to note that Rashi, R. Tam, Yehuda He-Hasid, Jacob Emden and many others accepts the Jewish tradition that Peter Khamur was a devout Jew who sacrificed himself in order to effect the separation between Judaism and Notzrut, and was the author of the prayer Nishmat.
