“For in all that affects human faith…each one of us… is bound until the end of all generations to investigate the secrets within the words of the Torah and to conduct his faith in the straightest and most correct way… …and to accept the truth from whatever source, once we know of it. And let not the opinion of others, though they preceded us, hinder us from inquiry… Inquire and choose: for that you have been created and reason given to you.” These are the words of Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi in his magnum opus “Ma’asei Adonai” (The Works of God). The words are an encapsulation of the spirit of their author and, some might say, of Judaism itself. Tonight, the 22nd day of the Hebrew month of Kislev marks the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Eliezer ben Eliyahu Ashkenazi the Physican (1513-1586), a rabbi, exegete, prolific author and much travelled scholar, whose activities covered many of the Jewish centers of the 16th century. The influential position he held in widely scattered communities highlights the basic unity of Jewish society and culture in this period. Rabbi Eliezer was a student of Rabbi Joseph ben Solomon Taitazak, a Sephardi refugee in Salonika. At the age of 26, Rabbi Eliezer ,went to Egypt to officiate as rabbi. The Italian Talmudist and philosopher Elijah of Pesaro wrote of Rabbi Eliezer “he judged all the community of Egypt for 22 years.” While there he was in touch with the Safed community and its sages, including Rabbi Joseph Caro, author of the Shulchan Aruch, who respected and consulted him. In 1561 a libel compelled him to leave Egypt. Rabbi Eliezer then became Rabbi in Famagusta in Cyprus. Elijah of Pesaro, who met him there in 1563, describes him as “well-versed in 12 languages… a sage in many sciences and in the Talmud… he is wealthy.” The Italian-Jewish physician and scholar, Azariah dei Rossi, called him “the greatest of the generation.” In 1563 Rabbi Eliezer was in Venice; the following year he travelled to Prague where he is credited with forming the first Ashkenazi Chevra Kadisha (burial society); he then returned for a few years to Famagusta, and again went to Venice. From there he went to Cremona where, as rabbi, in 1576 he published his commentary “Yosef Lekach” on the Book of Esther dedicated to Joseph Nassi, a Jewish diplomat and administrator in the Ottoman Empire and a great benefactor of the Jewish people. This was the last Hebrew book printed in Cremona, which had been a center for Jewish learning and printing – despite the rigid censorship of the church. That same year, 1576, Rabbi Eliezer was invited to Poland as rabbi of Poznan; he was subsequently called to the Rabbinate of Gniezno and then of Cracow where he lived the remainder of his life. In Poland Rabbi Eliezer’s answers to legal queries were accepted as authoritative by all the Polish rabbis of the time. Rabbi Eliezer’s main work is “Ma’asei Adonai”, a commentary on the Tora also containing a complete commentary on the Passover Haggadah, which has frequently been published separately. It follows the rationalist trend in rabbinical scholarship, calling for freedom in exegesis of the Scriptures. In the estimation of the Italian rabbi, author and physician Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, “the Ma’asei Adonai should be read in its entirety.” Rabbi Delmedigo also records that Rabbi Eliezer wrote a supercommentary on Nachmanides’ commentary on the Torah and “a thousand refutations of the Bet Yosef” of Rabbi Joseph Caro, probably referring to marginal notes. Rabbi Eliezer also wrote slichot (penitential poems) and piyyutim (liturgical poems). His glosses on the code of the 13th-century rabbi Mordecai ben Hillel are included in Gedulat Mordecai. An important passage in Rabbi Eliezer’s commentary on the Passover Haggadah asserts that Judaism does not regard followers of Christianity or Islam as idolators, because the two religions are monotheistic, accept God’s creation of the world from nothing and accept the truth of the story of the Exodus from Egypt. This was later incorporated into halachah by Rabbi Moshe Rivkes who cites Rabbi Eliezer and states that, as Jews living in Christian or Muslim lands, “we are always required to pray for the welfare and success of the kingdom and the ministers, in all their provinces.” Rabbi Eliezer’s son Eliyahu published the liturgic collection, Zivchei Shelamim, and wrote a short elegy on his father, which was used as Rabbi Eliezer’s epitaph. Rabbi Eliezer was buried in the cemetery adjacent to the Remah synagogue in Cracow. Pictured are title pages from “Yosef Lekach” (original edition printed in Cremona) and “Ma’asei Adonai” (original edition printed in Vienna). geni/…/Rabbi-Eliezer-Ash…/6000000010230840515 (Posted by Edna Kalka Grossman)
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 02:00:01 +0000
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