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197 Ashkenazi, Eliezer Ashkenazi, Joseph

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

197

Maimonides' "Hokmat ha-'Ibbur," a treatise on the computation of the intercalary month; (4) Abraham bar Hiyyah's seventh " gate " of the third treatise on the computation of the intercalary month, with a responsum by Hai Gaon on the calculation of the years since the Creation; (5) Moses Narboni's "Maamar ba-Behirah, " a treatise on free-will; (6) "Nussah Ketab," a letter from Joshua Lorki on religion; (T) Isaac Ardotiel's "Melizah 'al ha-'Et," a prose poem on the pen; (8) David b. Yom-Tob's "YesodothaMaskil, " thirteen articles of belief of an enlightened man; (9) " RaMBaM," a letter from Maimonides addressed to Rabbi Japhet the Dayyan (10) a letter by Elijah of Italy, written from Palestine to his family at Ferrara, in 1438; (11) Jacob Provencal's "BeDebar Limmud ha-Hokmah, " on the study of science. S. Munk has written an introduction to this collection, which contains also, as an appendix, a French translation of " Yesodot ha-Maskil " by

Even in his lifetime Ashkenazi was recognized as. an authority in Talmudic lore, and especially as a. most eminent dialectician. His works scarcely justify this opinion for they are not much above the general average of the rabbinical literature of his time. His influence was, nevertheless, considerable, and was due to his personality. The many ritual inquiries directed to him while rabbi of Metz from western Germany and Alsace-Lorraine show that after his advent in that city he was really the spiritual and intellectual authority for the Jews of those countries. It was mainly in Metz that he exercised a many-sided influence as teacher. Ashkenazi was deeply revered and loved by a large number of pupils whom he had the power to attract to himself.

among these was David Oppenheim(er). Ashkenazi was the father of four learned sons, Moses, Nathan, Nahum, and Joel, of whom the first-named gained prominence as a Talmudist and Chief

He

March

"H.B."

cabalist.

Ashkenazi published also "Ta'amZekenim" (The Taste of Old Men), edited by R. Kirchheim, a collection of old manuscripts and prints dealing with Jewish literature and history in the Middle Ages (Frank-

Bibliography: Cahen,

fort-on-the-Main, 1854).' Bibliography Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Boohs Brit. Zeitlin, Bibliotheca Hebraica, p. 7. 56, 57

3/tis. pp. I.

ASHKENAZI, ELIJAH.

Br.

See Lbvita, Eli-

jah.

ASHKENAZI, GERSHON



Polish Talmud-

born in the second decade of the seventeenth century died at Metz March 20, 1693. His family ist

22, 1691, at

Nikolsburg.

in Rev. Et. Juives, vlii. 355-257; Dembitzer, Kelilat Yofi, ii. 92a-107b, llla-112o ; Kaufmann, Letzte Vertreibung der Juden aus Wien, pp. 224-228; Michael, Or ha-Hayyim, No. 674.

L. G.

ASHKENAZI, ISAAC BEN JACOB



g.

died





name was really Fp^lK, "TJlif," " Olive "(?), the surname " Ashkenazi " being usually bestowed in Poland upon families of German extraction. Gershon Ashkenazi was also named " Poss " not " Fass " — after He his rich father-in-law, Loeb Poss, of Cracow. was dayyan in Cracow, possibly his birthplace, at all events the place where he obtained his Talmudic education from Joel Sitrkes and Joshua H arl fFrom 1649 to 1659 he was rabbi at Prossnitz, from 1659 to 1660 at Hanau, and from 1661 to 1664 at

—

Nikolsburg, where he succeeded his father-in-law, Menahem Mendel Krochmal. For the next five years he was rabbi at Vienna, but was forced to leave owing to the banishment of the Jews. Thence he went to Metz in 1670, where he remained until



Rabbi

at Byeltzy, Bessarabia; lived in the middle of the eighteenth century. He is the reputed author of a cabalistic

work, "Berit 'Olam" (Everlasting Cove-

nant), containing cabalistic explanations of the let-

with some concluding chapters on ethics. This work, found among Ashkenazi's papers, was published under his name by Isaac Hayyim of Bialostok, Wilna, 1820.

ters,

Bibliography ii.

15





Walden,

Shem ha-Gedolim he-Hadash,

Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Bootes Brit. Mus.

i.

35,

p. 57.

k.

I.

ASHKENAZI, ISAAC BEN ZEBI:

Be.

Rabbi

and author; born

in Russia about the middle of the eighteenth century, and officiated as rabbi in Chodorow and Lemberg, in which latter place he died May He was the author of the Hebrew works, 5, 1807. "Or ha-Ner" (Light of the Lamp), a commentary on the Haggadah, Lemberg, 1788, and "Torat haKodesh " (Law of Holiness), a commentary on Zeba-

him, ibid., 1792. Bibliography Walden, Shem htv-Oedolim he-Hadash, No. 224, who erroneously gives the date of Ashkenazi's death

Amhe

Shem, as 1811; Buber, schneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1094.

122,

p.

Cracow, 1895; Stein-

his death.

H. R.

Although rabbi of large communities and head of a yeshibah, Ashkenazi found time for literary activOf his numerous works, the following have ity. "

'Abodatha-Gershuni

(Gershon's Service), containing his responsa to the principal Talmudists of his day. The number of these responsa is 124 and they contain much information upon the condition of the Jews in Poland, after the persecutions by the Cossacks; (2) "Tiferet ha-Gershuni " (Gershon's Ornament), midrashicand cabalisBoth books were tic expositions of the Pentateuch. (3) published at Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1699. "Hiddushe ha-Gershuni" (Gershon's Novellas), Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1716, containing remarks and explanations concerning the third and fourth books of the Shulhan 'Aruk, in which the author

been printed:

(1)



severely criticizes the

Aharonim.

"

ASHKENAZI, ISRAEL BEN SAMUEL. See Israel of Sklow.

ASHKENAZI, JACOB ISRAEL BEN ZEBI

HIRSCH.

See

Embdbn, Jacob Israel.

ASHKENAZI, JOSEPH

Critic of the Mishnah; resided at Safed, Palestine, and died there between 1575 and 1583. Though Ashkenazi came to> Palestine from Verona— for which reason he was also called Joseph of Verona— it is by no means impossible that he was born and bred in Germany. This is attested, not by his surname, " Ashkenazi (this being a family name adopted by many families of German origin), but by the fact that he was the

Kaufmann son-in-law of Rabbi Aaron of Posen. surmises that he is referred to in the following couplet of the Judseo-German song, in which as the moct