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of Rothenburg. Zedekiah b. Abraham *Anav of Rome mentions
that he consulted his tosafot to tractate Beẓah, but these
have not survived.
Bibliography: Urbach, Tosafot, 277f., 285.
[Israel Moses Ta-Shma]
ELIEZER OF TOUQUES (d. before 1291), one of the last tosafists
and editors of tosafist literature. Only a few details of
his biography are known. He was a nephew of *Hezekiah of
Magdeburg and appears to be identical with the Eliezer b. Solomon
who signed a well-known responsum on the question
of whether the *Ḥerem ha-Yishuv applied to the community
of *Goslar. He studied under *Isaac b. Moses (Or Zaru’a) and
was the teacher of Ḥayyim *Paltiel. Eliezer’s contemporaries
had the highest regard for him, considering him an equal of
*Meir b. Baruch of Rothenburg. Isaac Joshua b. Immanuel de
*Lattes looked upon him as “head of the yeshivah of France,” a
post later attributed to *Perez b. Elijah of Corbeil. The *tosafot
of Eliezer of Touques are primarily an adaptation of those of
*Samson b. Abraham of Sens, with the addition of later novellae.
He sometimes adapted the tosafot of other scholars,
among them *Judah b. Isaac Sir Leon. The disciples of Meir b.
Baruch of Rothenburg used Eliezer’s tosafot extensively, and
it was through them that they became the accepted tosafot
of France and Germany. Consequently the publishers of the
Talmud also made an effort to include them, in order to enhance
the value of their publication. The tosafot to the tractates
Shabbat, Pesaḥim, Ketubbot, Gittin, Bava Kamma, Bava
Meẓia, Bava Batra, Shevu’ot, and Ḥullin in the printed editions
of the Talmud, and possibly also of some other tractates, were
edited by Eliezer.
Bibliography: Urbach, Tosafot, index.
[Israel Moses Ta-Shma]
ELIHU (Heb. אּוהי ִלא, ֱ once ּוהי ִלא; ֱ “God is the one [who is to be
thanked, or worshipped]”), son of Barachel the Buzite, of the
family of Ram, a character – first introduced, and quite unexpectedly,
at Job 32:2 – who addresses Job and his three friends
from 32:6 through chapter 37. (For the literary problem this
creates and an analysis of Elihu’s contribution to the discussion,
see *Job, Book of.) The names assigned to Elihu and to
his father (Barachel, “God has [or “is”] blessed”) may hint that
the author of these chapters approves of the point of view that
Elihu represents. The tribe and family assigned to him, however
(“the Buzite, of the family of Ram”), are obviously chosen,
like for example, the name and tribe of *Eliphaz the Temanite,
in order to conform to the setting of the oldest stratum of the
Book of Job (“the land of *Uz,” Job 1:1; “the *Kedemites,” 1:3b);
for according to Genesis 22:21, Buz was a younger brother of
Uz and an uncle of Aram, with whom the Septuagint and Symmachus,
probably rightly, identify this Ram. A less likely possibility
is the connection of Elihu’s ancestry to Ram, grandson
of Judah in the late sources (Ruth 4:19; I Chr. 2:9) that are followed
by the New Testament (Matt. 1:2).
[Harold Louis Ginsberg]
elijah
In the Aggadah
The aggadah praises both the wisdom and modesty of Elihu.
He was called “buzi” (lit. “lowly”; Job 32:2), only because he
considered himself of low account in the presence of those
greater than himself (Zohar, 2:166a), and showed his wisdom
in never speaking until he had listened to what Job had to say
(ARN1 37, 111–112). His wisdom is reflected in his statement:
“Touching the Almighty, we can never find Him out” (Job
37:23). He would have merited to be mentioned in Scriptures
had he done no more than describe the action of the rainfall
(cf. Job 36:27 and 37:3; Gen. R. 36:7). Elihu was a prophet
(Sot. 15b) and descended from Nahor, the brother of Abraham
(SER 28, 141–2).
Bibliography: Ginzberg, Legends, index; Y. Ḥasida, Ishei
ha-Tanakh (1964), 65–66.
ELIJAH (Heb. ּוהָ ּיִלֵ א, also הָ ּיִלֵ א), Israelite prophet active in
Israel in the reigns of *Ahab and Ahaziah (ninth century
B.C.E.). In the opinion of some scholars, the designation “the
Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead” (I Kings 17:1) supports
the hypothesis that Elijah did not live in one specific place in
Gilead but was a member of either the *Kenites or the *Rechabites,
sects which led a nomadic existence. These scholars
detect even in his resolute war against *Baal and in his zeal
for Yahweh a line of conduct which they believe was characteristic
of the Kenites and Rechabites but not of the nation
at large. (For the role of Jehonadab son of Rechab in Jehu’s
purge of Baal, see II Kings 10:15–17.) But the accounts of Elijah’s
wanderings (I Kings 17) describe his withdrawal from
society as a matter not of principle but of necessity (persecution,
famine). In addition, the reading “of the inhabitants of
Gilead” is suspect. It is impossible to decide whether “Elijah”
was a cognomen symbolizing the prophet’s mission: Eli-Jahu
(“YHWH is God”), or whether he had been given that name
by parents zealous for Yahweh. Elijah brought matters to a
head by stressing the idea of zeal for YHWH, which unconditionally
opposed the toleration of any cult (especially any official
cult) other than that of YHWH in Israel. This extremist
position, summed up in the sentence “I have been moved by
zeal for the Lord, the God of Hosts” (I Kings 19:10, 14), was a
minority opinion among Israelites, who evidently could comfortably
serve Yahweh and Baal (I Kings 18:21), let alone intrinsically
different from the polytheistic outlook, which never
opposed in principle the blending of different religious cults,
or their separate existence side by side. Even *Jezebel, who
fought against zealots like Elijah and is accused of killing the
Yahweh prophets (I Kings 18:13), was probably not opposed
to the worship of Yahweh per se, but to the demand that he
be worshipped exclusively at the expense of Baal. Ahab, in
fact, gave his sons the names Ahaz-iah and Jeho-ram, which
are compounded with the name of the national god YHWH.
For the “Yahweh-alone” zealots, it was insufficient to worship
Yahweh as the national god while tolerating others. The attitude
of Elijah and those of like mind was liable to impair relations
between Israel and her neighbors. Because of this, Elijah’s
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