JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

government representative (Ursicinus) on the Sabbath (TJ,
Beẓah 1:6, 60c). In Genesis Rabbah (32:2), R. Menaḥemyah
quotes him as saying: “No man loves his fellow craftsmen –
but God does – as it is written, ‘For the Lord is righteous, He
loveth righteousness’ [Ps. 11:7].”
Bibliography: Hyman, Toledot, 177f.; Frankel, Mevo, 113b;
Weiss, Dor, 2 (19044), 166.
[Yitzhak Dov Gilat]
ELEAZAR (Eliezer) BEN ZADOK, name of at least two tannaim,
both belonging to the same family, in which the names
Zadok and Eleazar frequently recur.
(1) Tanna of the first and beginning of the second century
C.E. His father was the tanna, *Zadok, who, in an attempt to
prevent the destruction of the Second Temple afflicted himself
for 40 years. When he became ill, Johanan b. Zakkai obtained
a physician from Vespasian and then accompanied by Eleazar
he was permitted to leave Jerusalem, then under siege, in order
to recover from the effects of his lengthy fast (Git. 56 a–b; Lam.
R. 1:31). Eleazar’s teacher was Johanan b. ha-Ḥoranit (Tosef.,
Suk. 2:3). He was a priest (Bek. 36a; et al.) and transmitted information
concerning the structures, procedures, and practice
of the Temple (Mei. 3:7; Mid. 3:8; Suk. 49a; et al.). While
living in Jerusalem he engaged in commerce and such was his
honesty that he dedicated to communal use three hundred
flasks of wine, which he had collected from the residue in his
measuring containers (Tosef., Beẓah 3:8). He was an eyewitness
of the suffering endured at the time of the destruction
of the Second Temple and saw the daughter of Nakdimon b.
*Guryon, one of the wealthiest men in Jerusalem, picking up
barley from under horses’ hooves in Acre (Tosef., Ket. 5:10),
and Miriam, the daughter of Boethus and wife of the high
priest Joshua b. Gamla, tied by her hair to the tails of horses
and made to run from Jerusalem to Lydda (Lam. R. 1:47; cf.
TJ, Ket. 5, end). After the destruction of the Second Temple
he joined the sages of *Jabneh, and as frequent visitor at the
home of R. Gamaliel, reported the Sabbath and festival customs
he witnessed there (Tosef., Beẓah 1:24; 2:13, 14; Pes. 37a;
et al.). Eleazar frequently quotes halakhic traditions heard in
his father’s home or from earlier sages, as well as explanations
of halakhic terms and expressions gleaned from the schools
in Jerusalem and Jabneh (Bek. 22a; Nid. 48b). His statements
include, “Do good deeds for the sake of the Creator, for their
own sake, do not make of them a crown with which to glorify
yourself, nor a spade to dig with them” (Ned. 62a; cf. Avot
4:5). Some assume the existence of an earlier Eliezer b. Zadok
whose entire life was spent in Jerusalem before the destruction
of the Second Temple.
(2) Tanna of the second half of the second century C.E.,
apparently the grandson of Eleazar b. Zadok (I). He transmitted
halakhot in the names of R. Meir (Kil. 7:2) and of R.
Simeon b. Gamaliel (Tosef., Kelim; BM 9: end), engaged in halakhic
discussions with R. Judah and R. Yose (Kelim 9:26, 2:6),
and was close to Judah ha-Nasi and his household (Tosef., Suk.
2:2). Aibu (the father of Rav, according to Rashi) relates (Suk.
eleazar Ḥisma
44b) that he once learned from Eleazar’s action that the shaking
of the willow-branch on Tabernacles outside Jerusalem is
a custom introduced by the prophets, and that no benediction
is to be made over it (see, however, the readings in Dik.
Sof., Suk. 136–7). Eleazar is the author of the statement, “No
restriction may be imposed on the public unless the majority
of the people can endure it” (Hor. 3b). It is difficult to decide
to which Eleazar b. Zadok certain halakhot and statements
are to be ascribed.
Bibliography: A. Zacuto, Yuḥasin ha-Shalem, ed. by Filipowski
(1857), 26–27; Frankel, Mishnah, 97–99, 178; Hyman, Toledot,
201–5; Bacher, Tann, 1 pt. 1 (Heb., 1903), 36–38; S. Lieberman, Tosefta
ki-Feshutah, 4 (1962), 850.
[Yitzhak Dov Gilat]
ELEAZAR (Eliezer) HA-KAPPAR (late second century
C.E.), Palestinian tanna, sometimes referred to as Eleazar ha-
Kappar Beribbi (i.e., the descendant of eminent scholars). It
is occasionally difficult to distinguish between the statements
of Eleazar and those of *Bar Kappara, who was probably his
son, and who was also called Eleazar ha-Kappar Beribbi. It is
improbable, as some scholars believe, that the two were identical,
since the son is sometimes specifically referred to as
“Eleazar ben Eleazar ha-Kappar Beribbi” (e.g., Tosef., Beẓah
1:7). The father was apparently a member of *Judah ha-Nasi’s
bet ha-midrash (Tosef., Oho. 18:18), while the son was Judah’s
pupil. Some of the halakhic and aggadic remarks contained
in the Mishnah and the beraitot perhaps should be attributed
to the father. Eleazar ha-Kappar (the first) may be the author
of the maxim “Envy, cupidity, and the craving for honor take
a man out of the world” (Avot 4:21), and of the aggadic statement:
“Great is peace for all the blessings conclude with the
word shalom [peace]” (Sif. Num. 42), since it is followed immediately
by another tradition brought in the name of his
son. In 1969 a stone, which was apparently the lintel over the
main entrance to a bet midrash, was found in the Golan area,
inscribed with the words: “This is the bet midrash of Rabbi
Eliezer ha-Kappar.” It is unclear whether this inscription refers
to the father or to the son.
Bibliography: Frankel, Mishnah, 213; Kahana, in: Ha-Asif
(1886), 330–3; Hyman, Toledot, 215–7; Bacher, Tann; Hadashot Archeologiyot
(April 1969), 1–2. Add. Bibliography: D. Urman, in: IEJ
22 (1972), 16–23; idem, in: Beer-Sheva, 2 (1985) (Hebrew), 7–25.
[Shmuel Safrai]
ELEAZAR ḤISMA (fl. first third of the second century C.E.),
tanna, one of the sages of Jabneh. Some consider Ḥisma to
have been his father’s name and refer to him as Eleazar b.
Ḥisma, but it appears rather to have been his byname, meaning
“the strong,” said to have been given to him because of
the strength he displayed in overcoming his former ignorance
(Lev. R. 23:4; for another interpretation, see Midrash David on
Avot (1944), 75). A pupil of Joshua b. Hananiah and perhaps
also of Akiva, he transmitted halakhot in the name of the former
and, together with him, he gave an aggadic interpretation
of a biblical passage (Tosef., Zav. 4:4; Mekh., Amalek,
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