Bezalel ben Abraham Ashkenazi () ( 1520 – 1592) was a

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

and

talmudist The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

who lived in Ottoman Israel during the 16th century. He is best known as the author of the ''Shitah Mekubetzet'', a commentary on the Talmud. Among his disciples were

Isaac Luria Isaac ben Solomon Ashkenazi Luria (; #FINE_2003, Fine 2003, p24/ref>July 25, 1572), commonly known in Jewish religious circles as Ha'ari, Ha'ari Hakadosh or Arizal, was a leading rabbi and Jewish mysticism, Jewish mystic in the community of Saf ...

and Solomon Adeni.

Biography

Ashkenazi was one of the leading Eastern Talmudists and rabbis of his day. He was probably born in the indigienous Land of Israel Descended from a family of German scholars, most of his life was spent in

Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Egypt was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire after the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517), conquest of Mamluk Egypt by the Ottomans in 1517. The Ottomans administered Egypt as a Eyalet, province (''eyalet'') of their empir ...

, where he received his Talmudic education from

David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra David ben Solomon ibn (Abi) Zimra () (1479–1573) also called the Radbaz () after the initials of his name, Rabbi David ben Zimra, was an early acharon of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries who was a leading ''posek'', ''rosh yeshiva'', chie ...

and Israel de Curial. During the lifetime of his teachers, Ashkenazi was regarded as one of the highest authorities in the Orient, and counted Isaac Luria and Solomon Adeni among his pupils. In Egypt his reputation was such that he could abrogate the dignity of the

nagid Nagid ( ) is a Hebrew term meaning a prince or leader. This title was often applied to the religious leader in Sephardic communities of the Middle Ages. In Egypt, the Jewish ''Nagid'' was appointed over all the Jews living under the dominion of the ...

, which had existed for centuries and had gradually deteriorated into an arbitrary aristocratic privilege. When, in 1587, a dispute occurred in Jerusalem over the extent to which scholars not engaged in business should contribute to the taxes paid by the Jewish community to the

pasha Pasha (; ; ) was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitary, dignitaries, and others. ''Pasha'' was also one of the highest titles in the 20th-century Kingdom of ...

, Ashkenazi, together with several other rabbis, took the stand that Jewish scholars, being usually impelled by love alone to emigrate to the Land of Israel, and being scarcely able to support themselves, should be relieved from all taxes. In the same year, Ashkenazi travelled to the Land of Israel, settling in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, where he was recognized as important by both

Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

and

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

communities. 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.

German Jews The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...

, who normally did not recognize the jurisdiction of the Sephardim and who, being largely scholars, refused to pay the Jews' tax, nevertheless recognized Ashkenazi's authority. However this arrangement between the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim seems to have been solely due to the personal influence of Ashkenazi; asvit ended immediately after his death.

Works

''Shitah Mekubezet''

Ashkenazi is known principally as the author of ''Shitah Mekubezet'' (, ''Gathered Interpretation''). This work, as its title indicates, is a collection of

glosses A gloss is a brief notation, especially a marginal or interlinear one, of the meaning of a word or wording in a text. It may be in the language of the text or in the reader's language if that is different. A collection of glosses is a ''glossar ...

on the greater part of the Talmud, in the style of the ''

Tosafot The Tosafot, Tosafos or Tosfot () are Middle Ages, medieval commentaries on the Talmud. They take the form of critical and explanatory glosses, printed, in almost all Talmud editions, on the outer margin and opposite Rashi's notes. The authors o ...

'', including much original and foreign material. The great value of the ''Shitah'' lies principally in the fact that it contains numerous excerpts from Talmudic commentaries which have not otherwise been preserved. Ashkenazi himself wrote only short marginal annotations in his edition of the Talmud. Solomon Adeni, his student, edited the annotations into the commentary to

Kodashim 150px, Pidyon haben Kodashim () is the fifth of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta and the Talmud, and deals largely with the services within the Temple in Jerusalem, its maintenance and design, the ''korbanot'', or sa ...

as it exists today (both versions), including a vast quantity of original material. ''Shitah Mekubezet'' contains expositions of the Talmud taken from the works of the Spaniards

Nahmanides Moses ben Nachman ( ''Mōše ben-Nāḥmān'', "Moses son of Nachman"; 1194–1270), commonly known as Nachmanides (; ''Nakhmanídēs''), and also referred to by the acronym Ramban (; ) and by the contemporary nickname Bonastruc ça Porta (; l ...

, ben Adret, and Yom-Tov of Seville, and from those of the Frenchmen

Abraham ben David Abraham ben David ( – 27 November 1198), also known by the abbreviation RABaD (for ''Rabbeinu'' Abraham ben David) Ravad or RABaD III, was a Provençal ḥakham, an important commentator on the Talmud, ''Sefer Halachot'' of Isaac Alfasi, an ...

Baruch ben Samuel Baruch ben Samuel (died April 25, 1221), also called Baruch of Mainz to distinguish him from Baruch ben Isaac, was a Talmudist and prolific '' payyeṭan'', who flourished in Mainz at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Writings He was a pu ...

Isaac of Chinon Isaac ( ; ; ; ; ; ) is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith. Isaac first appears in the Torah, in which he is the son o ...

, etc. The study of the ''Shitah'' is particularly valuable for understanding the

Tosafists Tosafists were rabbis of France, Germany, Bohemia and Austria, who lived from the 12th to the mid-15th centuries, in the period of Rishonim. The Tosafists composed critical and explanatory glosses (questions, notes, interpretations, rulings and ...

, because the work contains some of the older and unedited ''Tosafot''; besides, glosses of

Asher ben Jehiel Asher ben Jehiel (, or Asher ben Yechiel, sometimes Asheri) (1250 or 1259 – 1327) was an eminent rabbi and Talmudist best known for his abstract of Talmudic law. He is often referred to as Rabbenu Asher, “our Rabbi Asher” or by the Hebrew ...

and of the disciples of

Perez ben Elijah Perez ben Elijah of Corbeil (died about 1295) was a French tosafist, son of the Talmudist Elijah of Tours. In Talmudic literature he is designated by the abbreviations RaP (= Rabbeinu Perez), RaPaSh (= Rabbeinu Perez, may he live), and MaHaRPaSh ( ...

are partly contained in it.

Other works

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

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud (, often for short) or Palestinian Talmud, also known as the Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century Jewish oral tradition known as the Mishnah. Naming this version of the Talm ...

, which were still extant at the time of

Chaim Joseph David Azulai Haim Yosef David Azulai ben Yitzhak Zerachia (; 1724 – 1 March 1806), commonly known as the Hida (also spelled Chida, the acronym of his name, ), was a Jerusalem born rabbi, rabbinical scholar, a noted bibliophile, and a pioneer in the publica ...

, are preserved in manuscript at Jerusalem.

References

Its bibliography: Chaim Azulai, ''Shem ha-Gedolim,'' ed. Benjacob, i.36;

David Conforte David Conforte (c. 1618 – c. 1685) () was a Hebrew literary historian born in Salonica, author of the literary chronicle known by the title ''Ḳore ha-Dorot.'' Biography Conforte came of a family of scholars. His early instructors were rabbi ...

, ''Kore ha-Dorot'' (see index in Cassel ed.); Frumkin, ''Eben Shemuel,'' pp. 67 et seq., 125 et seq., Vilna, 1874;

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...

, ''Or ha-Chaim'', No. 612;

Luncz Abraham Moses Luncz (December 9, 1854 – 1918) () was a Russian scholar and editor born at Kovno, Russia. At age 14 he came to Jerusalem. Luncz, who grew blind early in life, founded, in conjunction with Dr. Koisewski, an institution for the bl ...

, in ''Jerusalem,'' ii.23-27; Responsa of

Yom-Tov Zahalon Yom Tov ben Moshe Tzahalon (), also known as the Maharitz, ( 1559 – 1638, Safed, Eyalet of Sidon) was a student of Moses di Trani and Moshe Alshich, and published a collection of responsa. Aged twenty-five, Tzahalon was requested by Rabbi S ...

, No. 160. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashkenazi, Bezalel 16th-century rabbis from the Ottoman Empire Rabbis in Ottoman Palestine Authors of works on the Talmud Authors of books on Jewish law 1520 births 1590s deaths Year of death uncertain Shelichei derabonan (rabbis)