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Rabbi Shlomo Sirilio (also spelled Sirilio or abbreviated as RaShS / R. Shlomo Sirilio) was a Spanish exile and one of the prominent sages of Safed and Jerusalem in the early 16th century. He is considered one of the first commentators on the Jerusalem Talmud.
Born in 1485, Rabbi Sirilio was expelled from Spain and later recounted his exile in the introduction to his commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud.
He was the grandson of Rabbi Shmuel Sirilio (also known as Ibn Sid).
He initially settled in Constantinople, studying under Rabbi Eliyahu ben Binyamin HaLevi, author of She'elot u'Teshuvot Zekan Aharon, a leading rabbi in Turkey.
Later, he moved to Salonika, studying with Rabbi Yaakov ben Chaviv (author of Ein Yaakov) and his son Rabbi Levi ben Chaviv.
While in Salonika, he served as a rabbi and authored a now-lost book on laws of ritual slaughter and lung inspection.
He was later appointed as a dayan (rabbinical judge) in Adrianople, a major city in the Ottoman Empire.
In the 1530s, Rabbi Sirilio immigrated to Safed, joining notable scholars such as Rabbi Yosef Karo and Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz.
Though not given an official post in Safed, he taught students and began writing his commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud.
He attempted to introduce a leniency in meat inspection laws, as practiced in Salonika, to make meat more affordable, but was opposed by Safed's rabbi, Rabbi Yaakov Berav.
Around 1546, he moved to Jerusalem, where he established a yeshiva and completed his commentary. A letter from him appears in the responsa of Radbaz, asking about a passage in tractate Shevi’it.
Rabbi Sirilio passed away between 1553 and 1555, and Rabbi Yosef Tzayach succeeded him as chief rabbi of Jerusalem.
After his death, his family faced financial hardship, and Rabbi Yosef Karo helped them collect debts owed to them.
One of his sons, Rabbi Mordechai, may have been the first to identify the authors referenced anonymously in the Beit HaBechirah by the Meiri.
Rabbi Sirilio wrote a complete commentary on Seder Zera’im (except for Berachot, which has Bavli) and tractate Shekalim, both of which lack Babylonian Talmud counterparts.
His was the first continuous commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud (except Shekalim), as earlier scholars only commented on specific passages when relevant.
Most of his commentary is independent and original, often without prior commentaries to rely on. Even when referencing earlier sages, he was not hesitant to disagree, sometimes even criticizing Maimonides.
He frequently sought to reconcile contradictions between the Bavli and Yerushalmi, a common approach among Yerushalmi commentators.
His work was not merely interpretive; he included halachic rulings based on the Yerushalmi’s discussions, especially concerning mitzvot dependent on the Land of Israel.
Occasionally, he inserted kabbalistic interpretations into his explanations of aggadic material.
Initially, he used manuscripts for his commentary, but later adopted the Venetian printed edition of the Yerushalmi, correcting and refining the text based on his judgment. Research suggests many of these corrections were his own innovations, sometimes incorporating Bavli texts to clarify Yerushalmi passages.
Rabbi Sirilio never published his commentary during his lifetime. Still, it spread in manuscript form and influenced later commentators, including:
Rabbi Yehoshua Benveniste (Sedeh Yehoshua),
Rabbi Eliyahu of Fulda (Perush Ra”af),
Rabbi Shlomo Adeni (Melechet Shlomo on the Mishnah).
His commentary on tractate Berachot was first printed in 1875 (Mainz), later tractate Peah was published in Vilna (1922).
The entire Seder Zera’im commentary was printed between 1934 and 1967 by Rabbi Chaim Yosef Dinkels, along with his own commentary Emunat Yosef.
Tractate Shekalim was published in 1958 by Rabbi Ephraim Ze’ev Garboz, along with his commentary Har Ephraim.
Today, the complete commentary is available in the Oz Vehadar edition of the Jerusalem Talmud.
Rabbi Sirilio also compiled a unique work on tractate Eduyot, which lacks a Talmud, collecting relevant material from both Bavli and Yerushalmi. It was first printed in 2014 by Machon Ahavat Shalom, edited by Rabbi Betzalel Deblitzki.
Rabbi Shlomo Sirilio remains a pioneering figure in the study and interpretation of the Jerusalem Talmud, laying the groundwork for generations of scholarship that followed.