- Eliezer ben Elijah Ashkenazi
Eliezer (Lazer) ben Elijah Ashkenazi (1512–
December 13 ,1585 ) ( _he. אליעזר בן אליהו אשכנזי) was aTalmud ist,rabbi , physician, and many-sided scholar. Though of a German family (according to some, the relative ofJoseph Colon ; seeMarco Mortara , "Indice Alfabetico," s.v.), he was probably born in theLevant , and received his Talmudic education underJoseph Taitazak inSalonica . Ashkenazi first became rabbi inEgypt 1538-60, probably atFostat , where, by his learning and wealth, he became widely known. Compelled by circumstances—doubtless of a political nature—to leave Egypt, he went toCyprus , remaining there for two years as rabbi atFamagusta .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 rabbisMeïr Padua and his sonJudah Katzenellenbogen caused him to leave the city and in the same year to take up his residence atPrague (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 leavingBohemia and proceeding eastward as far as theCrimea , Ashkenazi returned toItaly , not before 1570. While rabbi ofCremona he published there (1576) his work, "Yosef Lekah" (Increases Learning; compareProv. 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 ofPosen . In 1584 he left that city to take up his abode in Cracow, where he died onDecember 13 ,1585 .Works
Ashkenazi's printed works, besides the "Yosef LekaḦ," are the following:
* A commentary on theBook of Esther
* "Ma'ase ha-Shem" (The Works of God; Venice, 1583; several other editions), a commentary on the historical portions of thePentateuch , written for the instruction of his son Elijah, and containing also a complete commentary on thePassover 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 toNahmanides , and his critical marginal notes—said to number one thousand—onJoseph 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 fancifulkabalist , and a fellow-pupil ofMoses Alshech , yet he was a student—if not a deep one—of philosophy and physics. As aTalmudist , such men asJoseph Caro ,Moses Isserles , andSolomon 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. InVenice 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 wasKatzenellenbogen 's son-in-law. From the standpoint of strict Talmudic interpretation, Ashkenazi's opponents were in the right, since his sentence contravened that of theTosafists , 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 "roshe yeshibot " (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 toJoseph ben Mordechai Gershon ha-Kohen, the "rosh yeshibah" atCracow , that, although the decision of the Polish rabbis was based upon the authority ofMaimonides , yet he considered it irreconcilable with freedom of instruction among Jewish 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 theTalmud (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.Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
*
Eliakim Carmoly , 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 Steinschneider , "Cat. Bodl." col. 954;
*J. M.Zunz , " 'Ir ha-Ẓedeḳ," pp. 20-23, 175, and supplement, pp. 28, 29.References
*JewishEncyclopedia
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