- Bezalel Ashkenazi
Bezalel Ashkenazi, ( _he. בצלאל בן אברהם אשכנזי), a
rabbi and scholar of theTalmud , lived in thePalestine during thesixteenth century . He is best known as the author of "Shittah Mekubetzet", a commentary on the Talmud. He is very straightforward in his writings and occasionally offers textual amendments to the Talmud. His most important disciple was the famous Kabbalist, RabbiIsaac Luria .Biography
Ashkenazi was one of the leading
Oriental Talmudists and rabbis of his day. He was probably born inPalestine toward the end of the sixteenth century. Descended from a family of German scholars, the greater part of his life was spent inEgypt where he received his Talmudic education fromDavid ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra andIsrael de Curial . During the lifetime of his teachers, Ashkenazi was regarded as one of the highest authorities in the Orient, and he counted among his pupils such men as Isaac Luria andSolomon Adeni . The reputation of Ashkenazi in Egypt was so great that he could take it upon himself to abrogate the dignity of thenagid , which had existed for centuries and had gradually deteriorated into an arbitrary aristocratic privilege. When, in 1587, a dispute occurred in Jerusalem over the point whether scholars not engaged in business should contribute to the taxes paid by the Jewish community to thepasha , and to what extent, Ashkenazi, together with several other rabbis, took the stand that Jewish scholars, being usually impelled by love alone to emigrate to Palestine, and being scarcely able to support themselves, should be relieved from all taxes.In the same year, Ashkenazi himself traveled to Palestine and settled in
Jerusalem , where he was recognized as their chief by both theSephardim and theAshkenazim . The conditions in Jerusalem were at this time very critical; and it was mainly due to Ashkenazi's influence that the congregations of the city were not dissolved. TheGerman Jews , who ordinarily did not recognize the jurisdiction of the Sephardim, and who, being largely scholars, refused to pay the Jews' tax, nevertheless bowed to Ashkenazi's authority. The Ashkenazim had to contribute to the Jews' tax one-sixth of the sum that was sent from Europe for their support ("seeHalukka "); otherwise the Sephardim, who were on the verge of penury, could not have remained in Jerusalem under the merciless exploitation of the Turkishpasha s. This peaceable arrangement between the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim was due solely to the personal influence of Ashkenazi; for immediately upon his death the Ashkenazim refused to keep their pledge. [Responsa ofYom-Tov Zahalon , No. 160]"Shittah Mekubezet"
To posterity Ashkenazi is known principally as the author of the "Shittah Mekubezet", (trans. "Gathered Interpretation"). This work, as its title indicates, is a collection of
gloss es on the greater part of the Talmud, after the fashion of the "Tosafot "; and in it Ashkenazi combined much original and foreign material. The great value of the "Shittah" lies principally in the fact that Ashkenazi gives therein numerous excerpts from Talmudic commentaries which have not otherwise been preserved.The "Shittah" contains expositions of the Talmud taken from the works of the Spaniards
Nahmanides ,ben Adret , andYom-Tov of Seville , and from those of the FrenchmenAbraham ben David ,Baruch ben Samuel ,Isaac of Chinon , etc. The study of the "Shittah" is particularly valuable for understanding theTosafists , because the work contains some of the older and inedited "Tosafot"; besides, glosses of R.Asher ben Jehiel and of the disciples of R. Perez are partly contained in it. Ashkenazi designed the "Shittah" to cover the whole Talmud; but only the following tracts were interpreted:Bezah ,Baba Kamma ,Baba Batra ,Baba Metzia ,Ketubot ,Nedarim ,Nazir ,Sotah , and the order ofKodashim (exceptingHullin ) — the last-mentioned in the Romm edition of the Talmud. Ashkenazi is also the author of a collection of responsa, which appeared after his death (Venice, 1595). His "Methodology of the Talmud," and his marginal notes to the Yerushalmi, which were still extant at the time of Azulai, are preserved in manuscript at Jerusalem.References
----JewishEncyclopedia|article=Ashkenazi, Bezalel|author=
Gotthard Deutsch andLouis Ginzberg |url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1961&letter=A&search=Bezalel%20Ashkenazi Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography:Azulai , "Shem ha-Gedolim," ed. Benjacob, i.36;David Conforte , "Dore ha-Dorot" (see index in Cassel ed.); Frumkin, "Eben Shemuel," pp. 67 et seq., 125 et seq., Vilna, 1874;Michael , "Or ha-Chaim", No. 612;Luncz , in "Jerusalem," ii.23-27.
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