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eleazar ben jacob ha-bavli
but his name is not included in the other lists (Mid. Ps. to 9;
Piyyutei Yannai, ed. by M. Zulay (1938), 374). It is obvious that
all these different traditions cannot refer to the same historical
figure, nor is it likely that a high priest would be identified
as a scholar with the title “rabbi.” Rather, each tradition
must be seen as reflecting the narrative and moralistic concerns
of each storyteller and each editor as determined by the
specific context.
Bibliography: Hyman, Toledot, 176–7; Klausner, Bayit
Sheni, 5 (1951), 21.
[Stephen G. Wald (2nd ed.)]
ELEAZAR BEN JACOB HA-BAVLI (c. 1195–1250), Hebrew
poet of Baghdad. Eleazar seems to have been a sort of house
poet for the well-to-do Jewish families of Iraq. He represents
himself as a disciple of Moses ben Sheshet al-Andalusi, who
introduced him to the techniques of Andalusian poetry. He
was probably the first young Oriental poet met by Judah *Al-
Ḥarizi in his travels to the East, although he did not get a very
positive evaluation. Some of Eleazar’s poems were extant in
various manuscript collections and in Oriental maḥzorim and
attracted the attention of 19th-century scholars (L. Dukes, A.
Neubauer, E.N. Adler, S. Poznanski). It was only with the discovery
of one of the manuscripts of his dīwān, which comprised
281 poems, by Elkan N. *Adler in Aleppo in 1898 (Jewish
Theological Seminary, New York, Ms. ENA 881), and its publication
by H. *Brody (1935) that he emerged as one of the great
poets of the eastern Diaspora. Thanks to other manuscripts
from the Firkovitch collection of St. Petersburg and from other
libraries, Y. Yahalom has been able to reproduce the possible
original structure of Eleazar’s dīwān, which contained more
than 400 poems. Many of them are given over to praises and
the familiar events of the notable Jews of the Iraqi community:
births, circumcisions, weddings, and deaths of the families of
his benefactors. Others are epigrams on secular subjects or
short poems of didactic nature. He also wrote some Arabic
poems, with his own Hebrew translation, and even verses with
a mixture of both languages. While the dīwān contains mainly
secular poetry, subsequent discoveries have brought to light
about 50 of his religious poems. Nineteen such poems were
published by S. *Bernstein; by a comparison of style and the
help of acrostics, D. Jarden identified some more religious poems.
They have the characteristics of the classical piyyut and
some of the Andalusian innovations.
In addition to its importance to poetry, the dīwān is a
historical source of utmost significance for the history of Iraqi
Jews during the 13th century. It provides a glimpse into the
wealthy and highly educated leading Jewish families in Baghdad,
Basra, Mosul, Wasit, Hilla, and other places in Iraq. The
dīwān is replete with the names (more than 400) of not only
the contemporary geonim but also of eminent Jewish personalities,
among them physicians, scholars, astronomers, administrators,
keepers of the mint, and other state dignitaries
in the service of the Abbasid caliphate in its declining years.
The high-sounding titles of the Jewish notabilities indicate
the social level and the great role played by them both in the
community and in state and society. With the help of Arab
chronicles, particularly of Ibn al-Fuwati, these personalities
can be identified in their historical perspective.
Eleazar ha-Bavli also interested himself in the theory of
Hebrew poetry and composed a book for teaching this theory
to his Jewish audience. Substantial remnants of this work,
written in Judeo-Arabic, have survived (published and translated
into Hebrew by Yahalom, 2001). He studied 13 kinds of
meter, the rhyme, the mistakes and deficiencies of the poets,
and the figures of speech, following Arabic models. His
method of studying Hebrew poetry was very different from
that of his predecessor Moses *Ibn Ezra in his Shirat Yisrael.
The situation in which Eleazar wrote was quite dissimilar, and
his main goal was probably to encourage the Jews of the East
to compose Hebrew poetry in consonance with Arabic poetics,
reproducing the opinions of similar Arabic books and offering
many examples taken from his own secular and liturgical
poetic production.
Bibliography: E.N. Adler, in: JQR, 11 (1898/99), 682–7; idem,
in: Livre d’hommage… S. Poznanski (1927), 22–24 (Eng.); Mann, Texts,
1 (1931), 263–305; H. Brody, Divan Koveẓ Shirei Rabbi Eleazar ben
Ya’akov ha-Bavli (1935); S.H. Kook, in: KS, 13 (1936/37), 12–13 (also in
his Iyyunim u-Meḥkarim, 2 (1963), 194–7); W.J. Fischel, in: Tarbiz, 8
(1936/37), 233–6; idem, Jews in the Economic and Political Life of Mediaeval
Islam (19692), 127–34; S. Bernstein, in: Sinai, 18 (1946), 8–34;
N.H. Torczyner (Tur-Sinai), in: Leshonenu, 11 (1941), 269–83 (also in
his Ha-Lashon ve-ha-Sefer, 3 (1955), 366–80); D. Jarden, in: Tarbiz,
26 (1956/57), 317–27; idem, in: HUCA, 33 (1962), 1–26; idem, Sefunei
Shirah (1967), 54–96; A. Ben-Jacob, Yehudei Bavel (1965), 32–43;
Abramson, in: Perakim, 1 (1968), 9–28. Add. Bibliography: D.
Yarden (ed.), Shirim Ḥadashim le-Rabbi Eleazar ben Ya’akov ha-Bavli
(1984); Y. Yahalom, Perakim be-Torat ha-Shir le-Eleazar ben Ya‘akov
ha-Bavli: Makor Arvi-Yehudi ve-Targum Ivri (2001); idem, in: Hispania
Judaica Bulletin, 4 (2004), 5–21; W. van Bekkum, in: Ben Ever
la-Arav, 2 (2001), xxiii–xl.
[Walter Joseph Fischel / Angel Sáenz-Badillos (2nd ed.)]
ELEAZAR BEN JAIR (first cent. C.E.), chief of the Sicarii
who captured the fortress of *Masada at the beginning of
the Roman war (Jos., Wars, 2:447; 7:275ff.). Eleazar was commander
of the besieged fortress from 66 until its fall in 73. According
to Josephus he was a descendant of *Judah the Galilean,
to whom the founding of the “fourth philosophy” (see
*Sicarii) is attributed, though some identify him with Judah
b. Hezekiah who, after Herod’s death, raised the standard of
revolt in Galilee and captured Sepphoris. Apparently Eleazar
already had a connection with Masada in the time of *Menahem
b. Judah, when he captured it and used the arms that
he obtained there for the siege of Jerusalem. Josephus designates
Eleazar, “head of the Sicarii … a valiant man,” and ascribes
to him a speech made to the defenders of Masada after
the breach of its walls, first before a handful of fighters and
afterward before all the besieged. This speech was possibly reconstructed
from what Josephus heard from the woman belonging
to Eleazar’s family who escaped at Masada by hiding
302 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6