Jacob ben Asher

Jacob ben Asher was born in Germany and lived most of his life in Spain. He is most famous for having composed the great law code, the Arba'ah Turim or "Four Pillars," upon which Rabbi Joseph Karo based his Shulchan Arukh. He also composed a Torah commentary that remained in manuscript for centuries, a small extract of which, known as the Ba'al HaTurim al HaTorah, is largely characterized as gematria-based associations — that is interpretations derived from the numerical value equivalents of Hebrew words. These interpretations served as introductions to the main body of this work, eventually published in full, that draws on the works of other commentators, especially that of Ramban.