Eliezer ben Elijah Ashkenazi
Encyclopedia
Eliezer ben Elijah Ashkenazi (1512–December 13, 1585) was a Talmud
ist, rabbi
, physician, and many-sided scholar. Though of a German family (according to some, the relative of Joseph Colon; see Marco Mortara
, Indice Alfabetico, s.v.), he was probably born in the Levant
, and received his Talmudic education under Joseph Taitazak
in Salonica. Ashkenazi first became rabbi in Egypt
1538-60, probably at Fostat
, where, by his learning and wealth, he became widely known. Compelled by circumstances—doubtless of a political nature—to leave Egypt, he went to Cyprus
, remaining there for two years as rabbi at Famagusta
.
A desire to visit foreign lands and to observe foreign peoples impelled him to give up this position and to travel. He went first to Venice
, but a disagreement with the rabbis Meïr Padua and his son Judah Katzenellenbogen caused him to leave the city and in the same year to take up his residence at Prague
(1561). Here—either because he was a rabbi, or, at all events, because he was a leading authority—his was the first signature appended to the constitution of the burial society of the congregation. After leaving Bohemia
and proceeding eastward as far as the Crimea
, Ashkenazi returned to Italy
, not before 1570. While rabbi of Cremona
he published there (1576) his work, Yosef Lekah (Increases Learning; compare Prov. i. 5), dedicated to Joseph Nasi, duke of Naxos, which was several times reprinted. Four years later he was again in eastern Europe, as rabbi of Posen
. In 1584 he left that city to take up his abode in Cracow, where he died on December 13, 1585.
, and Solomon Luria
considered him of equal authority with themselves; however, when the rabbinical decisions of the old rabbis ran counter to sound judgment, he never sought a sophistical justification for them, as was then the custom, especially in Poland.
Valuable material for a correct estimate of Ashkenazi may be found in several of his decisions preserved in the responsa
literature of the time. In Venice
he decided that a man could be forced to a divorce, if, by immoral conduct, he had incurred his wife's aversion (Isserles, Responsa, No. 96). It was probably this decision which brought upon him the opposition of the above-mentioned Venetian rabbis, though he was connected with them, for Ashkenazi's son was Katzenellenbogen's son-in-law. From the standpoint of strict Talmudic interpretation, Ashkenazi's opponents were in the right, since his sentence contravened that of the Tosafists
, who for the German-Italian Jews constituted, as it were, a court of last resort.
" (heads of academies) had forbidden their pupils to establish a rival academy in close proximity to their own. Ashkenazi declined to assent to this resolution, when requested. At the same time, he complained in a letter to Joseph ben Mordechai Gershon
ha-Kohen, the "rosh yeshibah" at Cracow, that, although the decision of the Polish rabbis was based upon the authority of Maimonides
, yet he considered it irreconcilable with freedom of instruction among rabbis. How little he was understood by his Polish colleagues is fully displayed in the reply of the rabbi of Cracow, who at great length vindicates Maimonides' standpoint by erudite and astute references to the Talmud
(Joseph b. Mordecai Gershon, She'erit Yosef, No. 19). Consequently, J. S. del Medigo is justified in his remark that Ashkenazi remained unknown to the Poles, and he applies to him wittily, if somewhat audaciously, the verses: "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it," etc. (Ps.
lxxx. 9 [A. V. 8] to 13 [14]). Ashkenazi had come from Egypt and had to live among the uncultivated Poles.
Ashkenazi's wife, Rachel, died at Cracow April 3, 1593. Her epitaph, still extant, bears witness to her piety and benevolence (Monatsschrift, xliv. 360). His son Elijah published the liturgic collection, Zibhe Shelamim, and wrote a short elegy on his father, which was used as the latter's epitaph.
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
ist, rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
, physician, and many-sided scholar. Though of a German family (according to some, the relative of Joseph Colon; see Marco Mortara
Marco Mortara
Marco Mortara Marco Mortara Marco Mortara (born at Viadana, 7 May 1815; died at Mantua, 2 February 1894 was an Italian rabbi and scholar.Having graduated from the rabbinical college of Padua in 1836, he was called as rabbi to Mantua in 1842, and occupied this position until his death...
, Indice Alfabetico, s.v.), he was probably born in the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
, and received his Talmudic education under Joseph Taitazak
Joseph Taitazak
Joseph ben Solomon Ṭaiṭazaḳ , also referred to by the acronym MahaRITaTS, was a talmudic authority and kabalist who lived at Salonica in the 15th and 16th centuries...
in Salonica. Ashkenazi first became rabbi in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
1538-60, probably at Fostat
Fostat
Fustat , was the first capital of Egypt under Arab rule...
, where, by his learning and wealth, he became widely known. Compelled by circumstances—doubtless of a political nature—to leave Egypt, he went to Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, remaining there for two years as rabbi at Famagusta
Famagusta
Famagusta is a city on the east coast of Cyprus and is capital of the Famagusta District. It is located east of Nicosia, and possesses the deepest harbour of the island.-Name:...
.
A desire to visit foreign lands and to observe foreign peoples impelled him to give up this position and to travel. He went first to Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, but a disagreement with the rabbis Meïr Padua and his son Judah Katzenellenbogen caused him to leave the city and in the same year to take up his residence at Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
(1561). Here—either because he was a rabbi, or, at all events, because he was a leading authority—his was the first signature appended to the constitution of the burial society of the congregation. After leaving Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
and proceeding eastward as far as the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
, Ashkenazi returned to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, not before 1570. While rabbi of Cremona
Cremona
Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...
he published there (1576) his work, Yosef Lekah (Increases Learning; compare Prov. i. 5), dedicated to Joseph Nasi, duke of Naxos, which was several times reprinted. Four years later he was again in eastern Europe, as rabbi of Posen
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
. In 1584 he left that city to take up his abode in Cracow, where he died on December 13, 1585.
Works
Ashkenazi's printed works, besides the Yosef LekaḦ, are the following:- A commentary on the Book of EstherBook of EstherThe Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...
- Ma'ase ha-Shem (The Works of God; Venice, 1583; several other editions), a commentary on the historical portions of the Pentateuch, written for the instruction of his son Elijah, and containing also a complete commentary on the Passover Haggadah, which has frequently been published separately
- Eight "selihot" (penitential prayers), included in the Bohemian liturgy
- A "tokahah" (homily), published by his son.
- His supercommentary to NahmanidesNahmanidesNahmanides, also known as Rabbi Moses ben Naḥman Girondi, Bonastruc ça Porta and by his acronym Ramban, , was a leading medieval Jewish scholar, Catalan rabbi, philosopher, physician, kabbalist, and biblical commentator.-Name:"Nahmanides" is a Greek-influenced formation meaning "son of Naḥman"...
, and his critical marginal notes—said to number one thousand—on Joseph Caro's Bet Yosef, have not been preserved.
His individuality
Though Ashkenazi can scarcely be said to have exercised an influence either on his own or on later times, his personality was an extraordinary one for that age. He may be called the last survivor of a most brilliant epoch in the history of the Sephardim. Although educated by a fanciful kabalist, and a fellow-pupil of Moses Alshech, yet he was a student—if not a deep one—of philosophy and physics. As a Talmudist, such men as Joseph Caro, Moses IsserlesMoses Isserles
Moses Isserles, also spelled Moshe Isserlis, , was an eminent Ashkenazic rabbi, talmudist, and posek, renowned for his fundamental work of Halakha , entitled ha-Mapah , an inline commentary on the Shulkhan Aruch...
, and Solomon Luria
Solomon Luria
Solomon Luria was one of the great Ashkenazic poskim and teachers of his time. He is known for his work of Halakha, Yam Shel Shlomo, and his Talmudic commentary Chochmat Shlomo...
considered him of equal authority with themselves; however, when the rabbinical decisions of the old rabbis ran counter to sound judgment, he never sought a sophistical justification for them, as was then the custom, especially in Poland.
Valuable material for a correct estimate of Ashkenazi may be found in several of his decisions preserved in the responsa
Responsa
Responsa comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them.-In the Roman Empire:Roman law recognised responsa prudentium, i.e...
literature of the time. In Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
he decided that a man could be forced to a divorce, if, by immoral conduct, he had incurred his wife's aversion (Isserles, Responsa, No. 96). It was probably this decision which brought upon him the opposition of the above-mentioned Venetian rabbis, though he was connected with them, for Ashkenazi's son was Katzenellenbogen's son-in-law. From the standpoint of strict Talmudic interpretation, Ashkenazi's opponents were in the right, since his sentence contravened that of the Tosafists
Tosafists
Tosafists were medieval rabbis from France and Germany who are among those known in Talmudical scholarship as Rishonim who created critical and explanatory glosses on the Talmud. These were collectively called Tosafot , because they were additions on the commentary of Rashi...
, who for the German-Italian Jews constituted, as it were, a court of last resort.
Misunderstood by Polish rabbis
The Jews of Poland were still less capable of comprehending such a personality than were those of Italy. The following occurrence affords a striking instance of this fact: The "rashe yeshibotRosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...
" (heads of academies) had forbidden their pupils to establish a rival academy in close proximity to their own. Ashkenazi declined to assent to this resolution, when requested. At the same time, he complained in a letter to Joseph ben Mordechai Gershon
Joseph ben Mordechai Gershon
Joseph ben Mordechai Gershon Ha-Kohen was a Polish Talmudist. He began his studies in the Talmud at an early age, and became the head of a yeshivah founded for him by his father-in-law. The many pupils who attended this school soon made him famous for his scholarship; and his views on religious...
ha-Kohen, the "rosh yeshibah" at Cracow, that, although the decision of the Polish rabbis was based upon the authority of Maimonides
Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
, yet he considered it irreconcilable with freedom of instruction among rabbis. How little he was understood by his Polish colleagues is fully displayed in the reply of the rabbi of Cracow, who at great length vindicates Maimonides' standpoint by erudite and astute references to the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
(Joseph b. Mordecai Gershon, She'erit Yosef, No. 19). Consequently, J. S. del Medigo is justified in his remark that Ashkenazi remained unknown to the Poles, and he applies to him wittily, if somewhat audaciously, the verses: "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it," etc. (Ps.
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
lxxx. 9 [A. V. 8] to 13 [14]). Ashkenazi had come from Egypt and had to live among the uncultivated Poles.
Ashkenazi's wife, Rachel, died at Cracow April 3, 1593. Her epitaph, still extant, bears witness to her piety and benevolence (Monatsschrift, xliv. 360). His son Elijah published the liturgic collection, Zibhe Shelamim, and wrote a short elegy on his father, which was used as the latter's epitaph.
Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
- Eliakim CarmolyEliakim CarmolyEliakim Carmoly was a French-Jewish scholar. He was born at Soultz-Haut-Rhin, then in the French department of Haut-Rhin. His real name was Goschel David Behr ; the name Carmoly, borne by his family in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, was adopted by him when quite young...
, in Literaturblatt des Orients, ii.444; - idem, in Revue Orientale, ii.144, 192, 193;
- idem, in Ha-Karmel, vi.94, 95;
- B. Friedberg, Luḥot Zikkaron, p. 82;
- Landshuth, 'Ammude ha-'Abodah, i.19;
- Michael, Or ha-Ḥayyim, No. 418;
- Perles, in Monatsschrift, xiii.361, 371, 372;
- Moritz SteinschneiderMoritz SteinschneiderMoritz Steinschneider was a Bohemian bibliographer and Orientalist. He received his early instruction in Hebrew from his father, Jacob Steinschneider , who was not only an expert Talmudist, but was also well versed in secular science...
, Cat. Bodl. col. 954; - J. M. ZunzZunzZunz, Zuntz is a Yiddish surname: , Belgian pharmacologist* Leopold Zunz , German Reform rabbi* Gerhard Jack Zunz , British civil engineer- Zuntz :* Nathan Zuntz , German physiologist...
, 'Ir ha-Ẓedeḳ, pp. 20–23, 175, and supplement, pp. 28, 29.