Eliezer ben Isaac ha-Gadol was a German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 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...

 of the eleventh century. He was a pupil of his cousin R. Simon ha-Gadol of Mainz and of R. Gershom Me'or ha-Golah. David Conforte

David Conforte

David Conforte was a Hebrew literary historian born in Salonica, author of the literary chronicle known by the title Ḳore ha-Dorot.-Biography:...

, relying on the statement in the tosefta to Shab. 54b, says that Eliezer ha-Gadol was the teacher of Rashi

Rashi

Shlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...

; but Rashi himself, in citing Eliezer, does not say so. In Rashi's quotation he is sometimes called Eliezer ha-Gadol and sometimes Eliezer Gaon, which induced Azulai

Chaim Joseph David Azulai

Chaim Joseph David Azulai ben Isaac Zerachia , commonly known as the Chida , was a Jerusalem born rabbinical scholar, a noted bibliophile, and a pioneer in the publication of Jewish religious writings.- Biography :Azulai was born in Jerusalem, where he received his education...

 to consider them as two separate persons. According to Menahem di Lonsano  Eliezer ha-Gadol was the author of the well-known Orḥot Ḥayyim or Ẓawwa'at R. Eliezer ha-Gadol, generally attributed to Eliezer b. Hyrcanus. As to the authorship of the seliḥah Elohai Basser 'Ammeka, recited in the service of Yom Kippur Katan

Yom Kippur Katan

Yom Kippur Katan , is a practice observed by some Jews on the day preceding each Rosh Chodesh or New-Moon Day, the observance consisting of fasting and supplication, but being much less rigorous than that of Yom Kippur proper....

 and attributed to Eliezer by Michael

Heimann Joseph Michael

Heimann Joseph Michael was a Hebrew bibliographer born at Hamburg. He showed great acuteness of mind in early childhood, had a phenomenal memory, and was an indefatigable student. He studied Talmudics and received also private instruction in all the branches of a regular school education...

, see Landshuth

Leser Landshuth

Leser Landshuth was a German Jewish liturgiologist.He went to Berlin as a youth to study Jewish theology, and there he became acquainted with Leopold Zunz and Abraham Geiger, the latter of whom was then staying in that city in order to become naturalized in Prussia...

, 'Ammude ha-'Abodah, p. 20.

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

• Chaim Azulai
  Chaim Joseph David Azulai
  Chaim Joseph David Azulai ben Isaac Zerachia , commonly known as the Chida , was a Jerusalem born rabbinical scholar, a noted bibliophile, and a pioneer in the publication of Jewish religious writings.- Biography :Azulai was born in Jerusalem, where he received his education...
  
  , Shem ha-Gedolim, i. 12a, ii., s.v. ;
• Leopold Zunz
  Leopold Zunz
  Leopold Zunz was a German Reform rabbi and writer, the founder of what has been termed "Jewish Studies" or "Judaic Studies" , the critical investigation of Jewish literature, hymnology and ritual...
  
  , Z. G. pp. 47 et seq.;
• Adolf Jellinek
  Adolf Jellinek
  ----Adolf Jellinek |Drslavice]], nearby Uherské Hradiště, Moravia - December 28, 1893, Vienna) was an Austrian rabbi and scholar...
  
  , B. H. iii. 27, 28 of the Preface;
• Samuel Joseph Fuenn
  Samuel Joseph Fuenn
  Samuel Joseph Fuenn was a Russian scholar born in Vilnius. He received the usual Talmudic education, and also acquired an extensive general knowledge of the profane sciences. In 1848 the government appointed him professor of Hebrew and Jewish history in the newly founded rabbinical school of...
  
  , Keneset Yisrael, p. 124;
• Moritz Steinschneider
  Moritz Steinschneider
  Moritz 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. cols. 957-958;
• Julius Fürst
  Julius Fürst
  Julius Fürst , was a Jewish German orientalist.Fürst was a distinguished scholar of Semitic languages and literature...
  
  , Bibl. Jud. i. 233.

Footnotes