JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

eliezer ben isaac of worms
financed the press. Thus they established the first press in
Ereẓ Israel. They produced three works in the years 1577–79.
Later Eliezer returned to Constantinople, where he printed,
once more in partnership with Kashti, Samuel Aripol’s Lev
Ḥakham (1586). In 1587, in Safed again, Eliezer printed three
more books. Eliezer apparently died soon after.
Bibliography: A.M. Habermann, Toledot ha-Defus bi-Ẓefat
(1962), 7–15; A. Yaari, Ha-Defus ha-Ivri be-Kushta (1967), 30–32; idem,
Ha-Defus ha-Ivri be-Arẓot ha-Mizraḥ, 1 (1937), 9–11, 17–20.
ELIEZER BEN ISAAC OF WORMS (also called “Eliezer
ha-Gadol”; 11th century), German talmudic scholar. Eliezer
was a pupil of his relative Simeon ha-Gadol, in *Mainz, and
later of *Gershom Me’or ha-Golah, and *Judah ha-Kohen,
author of Sefer ha-Dinim. He was a friend of *Jacob b. Jakar
(Rokeaḥ, Ha-Tefillah 21; Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, Maẓref
le-Ḥokhmah 14:2). After the death of R. Gershom, he and
Jacob b. Yakar headed the yeshivah of Mainz, which numbered
among its pupils Isaac ha-Levi and *Isaac b. Judah, the
teacher of Rashi, who mentions Eliezer several times in his
commentaries to the Bible (e.g., Ps. 76:11) and the Talmud
(Pes. 76b) calling him “ha-Gadol” or “ha-Ga’on.” A number
of Eliezer’s decisions and instructions have been preserved
in works issuing from Rashi’s school, including the Sefer ha-
Pardes. Menahem b. Judah di Lonzano attributes to Eliezer
the well-known work, Orḥot Ḥayyim or Ẓavva’at R. Eli’ezer
ha-Gadol, which had previously been attributed to *Eliezer b.
Hyrcanus. The suggestion that Eliezer was the father of Tobiah
b. Eliezer, author of the Lekaḥ Tov, is without firm foundation.
The selihah “Elohai Basser” recited in the Yom Kippur Katan
service, which bears Eliezer’s name in acrostic form, has been
attributed to him.
Bibliography: Guedemann, Gesch Erz, 1 (1880), 120–6; A.
Epstein and J. Freimann (eds.), Sefer Ma’aseh ha-Ge’onim (1909), xv;
I. Abrahams, Hebrew Ethical Wills, 1 (1926), 31–49; Germ Jud, 1 (1934),
192, no. 13; V. Aptowitzer, Mavo le-Sefer Ravyah (1938), 310f.
ELIEZER BEN JACOB, name of two tannaim.
(1) Tanna who lived during the period of the destruction
of the Second Temple. He was intimately acquainted
with the Temple and describes its structure, arrangements,
and customs (Mid. 1:9; 2:6; Ar. 2:6; etc.). A tradition states
that he was the author of the Mishnah *Middot on the structure
and dimensions of the Temple (Yoma 16a; TJ, Yoma, 2:3,
39d). It is reported that *Ben Azzai found in Jerusalem a genealogical
scroll in which it was written that the opinions
quoted in Eliezer’s name are few “but well-sifted” (i.e., irrefutable)
and that his statements everywhere represent the accepted
halakhah (Yev. 49b). Since there was another tanna
of the same name (see below), it is sometimes difficult to
distinguish which of the two was the author of certain halakhot.
It is, however, undoubtedly this Eliezer who is quoted
in connection with laws dealing with the Temple and in discussions
with R. *Eliezer b. Hyrcanus, R. *Ishmael b. Elisha,
and R. *Ilai (Kil. 6:2; Kelim 7:3; Pes. 39a). One of his aggadic
contributions is his interpretation of the phrase: “serve Him
with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut. 11:13), which
he interpreted as an admonition to priests officiating in the
Temple not to allow extraneous thoughts to enter their minds
(Sif. Deut., Ekev. 41).
(2) Tanna of the second century. A pupil of R. *Akiva
(Gen. R. 61:3; TJ, Ḥag. 3:1, 78d), he was among the sages who
participated in the synod at Usha after the Hadrianic persecutions
(Song Rabbah 2:5). Talmudic sources quote halakhot
on which he differed from his colleagues R. *Meir, R. *Judah,
R. *Yose, R. *Simeon b. Yoḥai, and R. *Eleazar b. Shammu’a
(Neg. 10:4; Tosef., Yev. 10:5; Tosef., BK 5:7). He is reported as
saying: “Whoever provides lodging in his home for a scholar
and shares with him his wealth has the merit of one who offers
up a daily sacrifice” (Ber. 10b). His kindness is illustrated
in a story which tells that once, when a blind man came to his
town, Eliezer gave him a seat of honor above his own. When
the people saw this, they maintained the blind man in honor.
The latter, on learning the reason for his good fortune, offered
a prayer on Eliezer’s behalf saying: “You have dealt kindly with
one who is seen but sees not. May He who sees but is unseen
accept your prayers and deal graciously with you” (TJ, Pe’ah
8:9, 21b).
Bibliography: Frankel, Mishnah, 76–78; Hyman, Toledot,
181–4; Halevy, Dorot, 1 (1923), 84–86, 181–5; Bacher, Tann, 1 (19032),
62–67; 2 (1890), 23 n. 3, 39f. n. 5, 76 n. 2, 151 n. 1, 191 n. 4.
[Yitzhak Dov Gilat]
ELIEZER BEN JACOB HA-LEVI (Horovitz) OF TAR-
NOGROD (d. 1806), rabbi and ḥasidic author. A descendant
of a famous rabbinic family, he was a disciple of Elimelech
of Lyzhansk, Jacob Isaac of Lublin, and Israel of Kozienice.
He wrote No’am Megadim (Lemberg, 1807) and Amarot Tehorot
(Warsaw, 1838). According to one of his sayings, even
the greatest saint has to hide his own light to avoid the sin
of pride.
[Adin Steinsaltz]
ELIEZER BEN JOEL HA-LEVI OF BONN (Heb. acronym
ה"יבאר, Ravyah; 1140–1225), rabbinic scholar in Germany. His
maternal grandfather was Eliezer b. Nathan. Eliezer studied
under his father *Joel ha-Levi of Bonn, as well as under Judah
he-Ḥasid, and Judah b. Kalonymus of Mainz. His brother Uri
died a martyr’s death in 1216; Eliezer’s mourning for him was
so great that his vision was impaired and he was compelled
to dictate his novellae to his students, among them *Isaac b.
Moses Or Zaru’a. In the course of his long life, Eliezer wandered
from place to place: Bonn, Worms, Wuerzburg, Mainz,
Metz, Cologne, Regensburg, and, apparently, through France
and Lombardy. He refused to accept rabbinical office so as
“neither to be glorified by, nor benefit from, the Torah” (Ravyah,
no. 396) until he was robbed of his fortune. At his father’s
request, he accepted the rabbinate of Cologne in 1200. The
status he then attained as spiritual leader and halakhic expert
bore out the prophecy of Eliezer of Metz, “Honor will pursue
326 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6