Judaica Antique MAASEH HASHEM - HAGGADAH Zolkowie 1802, Passover Pesach.

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Judaica Antique MAASEH HASHEM - HAGGADAH Zolkowie 1802, Passover Pesach.:
$189.00

Maaseh Hashem by Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi B. Eliyahu Harofeh.
Includes the text of most of the Haggadah Shel Pesach.
Very good condition, small repair to first and last page.
Eliezer ben Elijah AshkenaziFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eliezer (Lazer) ben Elijah Ashkenazi(1512–December 13, 1585) (Hebrew:אליעזר בן אליהו אשכנזי‎‎) was aTalmudist,rabbi, physician, and many-sided scholar. Though of aGermanfamily (according to some, the relative ofJoseph Colon; seeMarco Mortara,Indice Alfabetico,s.v.), he was probably born in theLevant, and received his Talmudic education underJoseph TaitazakinSalonica. Ashkenazi first became rabbi inEgypt1538-60, probably atFostat, where, by his learning and wealth, he became widely known. Compelled by circumstances—doubtless of a political nature—to leave Egypt, he went toCyprus, remaining there for two years as rabbi atFamagusta.

A desire to visit foreign lands and to observe foreign peoples impelled him to give up this position and to travel. He went first toVenice, but a disagreement with the rabbisMeïr Paduaand his sonJudah Katzenellenbogencaused him to leave the city and in the same year to take up his residence atPrague(1561). Here—either because he was a rabbi, or, at all events, because he was a leading authority—his was the first signature appended to the constitution of the burial society of the congregation. After leavingBohemiaand proceeding eastward as far as theCrimea, Ashkenazi returned toItaly, not before 1570. While rabbi ofCremonahe published there (1576) his work,Yosef Lekah(Increases Learning; compareProv.i. 5), dedicated to Joseph Nasi, duke of Naxos, which was several times reprinted. Four years later he was again in Eastern Europe, as rabbi ofPosen. In 1584 he left that city to take up his abode in Cracow, where he died on December 13, 1585.

Contents[hide]

1Works
2His individuality
3Controversies with Polish rabbis
4Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
5References

Works[edit]

Ashkenazi\'s printed works are as follows:

Ma\'ase ha-Shem(The Works of God; Venice, 1583; several other editions), a commentary on the historical portions of thePentateuch, written for the instruction of his son Elijah, and containing also a complete commentary on thePassover Haggadah, which has frequently been published separately
Eight \"selihot\" (penitential prayers), included in the Bohemian liturgy
A \"tokahah\" (homily), published by his son.
His supercommentary toNahmanides, and his critical marginal notes—said to number one thousand—onJoseph Caro\'sBet Yosef,have not been preserved.

His individuality[edit]

Ashkenazi\'s personality was an extraordinary one. He may be called the last survivor of a most brilliant epoch in the history of theSephardim. Although educated by akabalist, and a fellow-pupil ofMoses Alshech, yet he was a student—if not a deep one—of philosophy and physics. As aTalmudist, such men asJoseph Caro,Moses Isserles, andSolomon Luriaconsidered him of equal authority with themselves; however, when the rabbinical decisions of earlier rabbis ran counter to his own judgment, he never sought a sophistical justification for them, as was then the custom, especially in Poland.

Valuable material for a correct estimate of Ashkenazi may be found in several of his decisions preserved in theresponsaliterature of the time. InVenicehe decided that a man could be forced to a divorce, if, by immoral conduct, he had incurred his wife\'s aversion (Isserles, Responsa, No. 96). It was likely this decision which brought upon him the opposition of the above-mentioned Venetian rabbis, though he was connected with them, for Ashkenazi\'s son wasKatzenellenbogen\'s son-in-law. From the standpoint of strict Talmudic interpretation, Ashkenazi\'s opponents were in the right, since his sentence contravened that of theTosafists, who for the German-Italian Jews constituted, as it were, a court of last resort.

Controversies with Polish rabbis[edit]

It appears that Ashkenazi\'s fierce confidence and independence led to clashes with the rabbinic establishment in Poland. The following occurrence is one such instance: The \"rashei yeshivot\" (heads of academies) had forofferden their pupils to establish a rival academy in close proximity to their own. Ashkenazi declined to assent to this resolution, even when requested in the name ofJoseph ben Mordechai Gershonha-Kohen, the \"rosh yeshibah\" atCracow. In a letter to the latter he claimed that, although the decision of the Polishrabbiswas based upon the authority ofMaimonides, he considered it unsupported by Talmudic literature and therefore deemed it as needlessly discouraging religious instruction. Ashkenazi even went so far as to question if indeed a great scholar like the rabbi of Cracow had truly requested this at all! Here too, despite the great respect shown Ashkenazi in his reply, the rabbi of Cracow responded forcefully at length, vindicating Maimonides\' standpoint by erudite and astute references to theTalmud(Joseph b. Mordecai Gershon,She\'erit Yosef,No. 19). Consequently,J. S. del Medigois quoted as saying that although Ashkenazi lived and taught in Poland in his later years his work was largely unknown to Polish Jews for \"his way was hidden from them, and they did not fully understand his views nor his lofty ideas\" (Nobeloth Hokhmah, Samuel b. Judah Loeb Ashkenazi, Basilia 1631, p. 46a).

Ashkenazi\'s wife, Rachel, died at Cracow April 3, 1593. Her epitaph, still extant, bears witness to her piety and benevolence (Monatsschrift,xliv. 360). His son Elijah published the liturgic collection,Zibhe Shelamim,and wrote a short elegy on his father, which was used as the latter\'s epitaph.