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foundation nor is there any reference to it in the Palestinian sources. It tells of the secret marriage of Ben Kalba's daughter that she was turned

ical

BEN LEB B. ZADIK. SeelBNLEBBENZADDiK. BEN MEIR Palestinian nasi in the first half







away by

her father and that he finally became reconciled to her (Ned. 50a Ket. 62S et seq. ). Compare Akiba in Legend. grave, alleged to be that of Ben Kalba Sabbua', to which the Jews pay great respect, is pointed out about half a mile north of Jerusalem. It is mentioned by Benjamin b. Elijah, a Karaite who traveled in Palestine (compare T. Gurland, " Ginze Yisrael," i. 53). Recent excavations show that there actually are graves on this spot but the statement that an inscription bearing Ben Kalba Sabbua"s name was found there has not been proved (Gur-

A



land,

ib.

"Ha-Maggid,"

p. 68;

Bibliography

viii. 28).

DerenbourK, Essai sur VHistoire de la Palestine, p. 281, note Gratz, Oeseh. der Juden, 3d ed., III. 527, 528 ; Luncz, Jerusalem, pp. 92, 93. J. sr. L. G.



BEN KOSIBA. See Bar Kokba. BEN LA'ANAH Author of an

book.

apocryphal

The name occurs only once in Yer. (Sanh. x. where it is said that among the apocryphal

books (" sefarim ha-hizonim") mentioned in the Mishnah (Sanh. x. 1) as forbidden to be read, the works of Ben Sira and of Ben-La'anah are included. "Ben Tagla," in Eccl. R. xii. 12, is probably only a variant of Ben-La'anah, since this Midrashic passage is taken from the Jerusalem Talmud. An author at the beginning of the sixteenth century writes the name "Ben Ya'anah" (njy), remarking that he has the latter's apocryphal works before him, and finds them full of riddles [fables] and stupidities (David ben Judah, Messer Leon's manuscript commentary on"Moreb,"inSteinschneider, "Hebr. Bibl." vii.65). It may be inferred from the above-mentioned passage of the Talmud that Ben-La'anah's work was not reckoned among the profane books, but was, like the book of Ben Sira, included by some authorities in the Scripture, and that for this reason the Mishnah protested against reading it, or, more correctly, against including it in the canon (compare Akiba b. Joseph). M. Joel thinks that this apocryphal book was apocalyptic in nature, whence the name " BenTagla" (from "galah," to reveal), and that BenLa'anah characterized it as a work in which the word

"wormwood" rtJJ& (="La'anah") played an important r61e. Flirst, on the other hand, who emends the text of the Jerusalem Talmud, takes "BenLa'anah" to be a corruption of "Apollonius," that well-known pagan philosopher, is, of Tyana, the and identifies Ben-Tagla with Empedocles. Perles takes "Ben-Ta'ala" to be the original form, from which the corruptions "Ben-Tagla" and "BenBut "Ben-Ta'ala" means "the La'anah" arose. fox " hence the book of Ben-Ta'ala would corre;

" spond to " Mishle Shu'alim (The Fables of the Pox), which are also mentioned in Jewish sources. These etymological are only a few examples of the various explanations to which the names "Ben-La'anah" and "Ben-Tagla" have given rise. 97•RmiTofiRAPHT- Fflrst, Canon desAlten Testaments, pp.

Kaufi. 75; 99: Joel, BlieTce in die RelWonsphilosophie, 116mann in Berne Etudes Juives, iv. 161 ; Perles, xb. ill. 118. J.

SB.

His name was brought to some twenty years ago by several fragments

of the tenth century.





28a),

Ben Judah Ben Naphtali

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

h

„ -

tr

light

discovered in various genizoth. The fragments contain an account of a controversy on the calendar

between Ben

Mei'r

Introducing

a

"

Molad " of

and the academies of Babylon.

new

Tishri,

rule

Ben

in the

Mei'r

fixation of

had decreed

the year 922, Passover and the other Jewish feasts should be celebrated two days before the date prescribed by the traditional calendar. Saadia, who was at that time staying at Bagdad, joined his proBen test to that of the Babylonian academies. Mei'r, however, refused to yield to their injunctions, denying'them any authority in astronomical matters and, owing to his own reputation and that of his family, won the confidence of Jews in many countries. letter was then addressed by the exilarch David ben Zakkai and the Babylonian notables to Ben Mei'r, imploring him not to cause a schism and showing him the fallacy of his calculations with regard to the calendar. Ben Mei'r answered in an arrogant fashion, and was then excommunicated by David ben Zakkai and the academies. Circular letters were also sent to various parts of the world, warning the Jews against Ben Me'ir's teachings. In this manner an end was made of this agitation. Such are the facts of this affair, which remained unknown to the Jewish historians until the present

A

The aim pursued by Ben

time.

He

tion is obvious.

Mei'r in this agita-

conceived the project of trans-

ferring the dignity of the exilarch from Babylonia back to Palestine, and he endeavored to deprive the exilarchate of one of its most important prerogatives, which was the calculation of the calendar. The moment chosen by Ben Mei'r was very propi-

The exilarch David ben Zakkai had no authority, being neither a learned man nor a very scrupulous one and of the two academies at Sura and Pumbedita, the former had no head, and the tious.



by the ambitious Cohen Zedek. was chiefly due to the intervention of Saadia, whose opinion on the subject of discussion, expounded in his " Sefer ha-Mo'adim " writ-

latter

Ben

was

directed

Me'ir's failure

ten for that occasion at the request of the exilarch, The exilarch later rewarded for

became authority.

the services rendered to him by Saadia by appointing the latter gaon at Sura, notwithstanding the disinterested advice to the contrary by Nissim Naharwani, who, knowing Saadia's impartiality and uprightness, foresaw the collisions that could not fail to occur between the gaon and the unscrupulous exilarch David ben Zakkai. Bibliography: Harkavy, Zikarnn b. Rishonim, v., parti., p. 212 Neubauer, in Jew. Quart. Rev. ix. 36 Poznanski, ib. x. 152; Israel Levi, in Revue Etudes Juives, xl. 261; E. N. Epstein, ib. Adler, I. Broyde and Israel Levi, ib. xli. 224





xlii.

173 et seq. I.

BEN MELAK. See Solomon BEN NAPHTALI Masorite

Be.

ibn Melek.

flourished about probably in Tiberias. Of his life little His first name is in dispute. Some meis known. dieval authorities called him " Jacob " two TchufutKalS manuscripts have " Moses b. David " a third

890-940



C.E.,





-

the

that, in