JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

in Jerusalem; and mentions the occupations of the local Jews.
In the last part of his letter he speaks of the rumors current in
Jerusalem about the wars of Beta Israel in Ethiopia, and also of
what he heard about the Ten Tribes in India from a Jew who
emigrated from Iraq. These rumors were already current in
Italy, and Elijah was asked to get more details about them. It
is not known whether he stayed in Jerusalem or returned to
Italy. An English translation was published by E.N. Adler in
his Jewish Travellers (19662), 151–55.
Bibliography: E. Ashkenazi, Divrei Ḥakhamim (1849),
61–63; A.M. Luncz (ed.), Ha-Me’ammer, 3 (1920), 77–80; A. Yaari, Iggerot
Ereẓ Yisrael (1943), 86–89, 541. Add. Bibliography: E. Carmoly,
Itinéraires de la Terre Sainte, Bruxelles, 1847, 323–360; Y. Haker,
Zion, 50 (1985), 241–63.
[Avraham Yaari / Moti Benmelech (2nd ed.)]
ELIJAH OF PESARO (16th century), Italian scholar and
traveler. After living for some time in Venice, Elijah set out
for the Holy Land in 1563 but was obliged to stop his journey
in Cyprus as there was an outbreak of cholera in Ereẓ Israel.
From Famagusta he wrote a letter to his relatives in Italy describing
the journey, giving advice to travelers, and including
an account of Cyprus which remains a primary source
for the social and economic history of the island. Elijah also
wrote philosophical homilies and commentaries on the Song
of Songs, Jonah, and Job (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale Ms.
Heb. 276).
Bibliography: A. Yaari, Masot Ereẓ Yisrael (1946), 165–96.
[Ariel Toaff]
ELIJAH OF PRAGUE, rabbi and head of the yeshivah in
Prague in the 15th century. Elijah was strict in applying his rabbinical
authority, frequently placing his opponents under the
ḥerem (ban), and even invoking the assistance of the secular
authorities, an act for which he was censured by Israel *Isserlein.
His ruling that in a case of *blood libel all the communities
of the realm should be considered “one city,” and obliged
to share the expenses for defense was accepted under protest
because he had not consulted the communities concerned.
He became involved in financial affairs “not in accordance
with his honor” and was summoned before a bet din by Isserlein.
Toward the end of Elijah’s life Eliezer of Passau settled in
Prague and encroached upon Elijah’s sphere of competence,
opening a rival yeshivah, among other activities. Israel *Bruna
and Perez succeeded in stopping the conflict between them
which affected the whole Prague community.
Bibliography: Horowitz, in: Zeitschrift fuer die Geschichte
der Juden in der Tschechoslowakei, 1 (1930/31), 231–4; Suler, in: JGGJČ,
9 (1938), 109–11, 135–44, 167; Michael, Or, 159–60; M. Frank, Kehillot
Ashkenaz u-Vattei Dineihem (1937), 24.
ELIJAH PHINEHAS BEN MEIR (c. 1742–1821), scholar,
kabbalist, and maskil. Elijah was born in Vilna, but in his
youth, after his father’s death, he traveled extensively among
the Jewish communities of Europe. In each city that he vis-
elimelech
ited he furthered his Jewish learning, in particular his knowledge
of Kabbalah, as well as his secular studies. Elijah became
known through his work Sefer ha-Berit, the first edition of
which appeared anonymously in Brno in 1797. This work enjoyed
a relatively wide circulation and was particularly well
received in Haskalah circles in Galicia and in Berlin, where,
according to Elijah’s own testimony, it was regarded as a kind
of encyclopedia of the natural sciences, astronomy, and theology.
When the work was attributed to *Elijah ben Solomon
Zalman, the Gaon of Vilna, and to Moses *Mendelssohn, Elijah
had the second edition published under his own name
(Zolkiew, 1807, with additions and emendations; third edition,
Vilna, 1818). The work is divided into two parts. The first,
composed of 21 treatises, deals with science and philosophy;
the second, comprising 14 treatises, deals with ethics and Kabbalah.
The section on science was already outdated at the time
of its composition, for, while it contains new empirical data,
it embodies a conception of the universe that is based on medieval
Aristotelian philosophy and on the Kabbalah of Isaac
*Luria. Elijah ignores the principles of Galileo and Newton
in physics, and of Lavoisier in chemistry, maintaining, for instance,
that the earth is stationary. The section on ethics and
Kabbalah, which Elijah intended to be the main part of the
work, is modeled after Ḥayyim *Vital’s Sha’arei Kedushah. In
this section Elijah accepts *Judah Halevi’s view that the Jewish
people is on the fifth level in the ascending scale of creation
– mineral, vegetable, animal, rational, and Israel, and he
makes use of the kabbalistic concept of the five souls inherent
in rational beings – nefesh, ru’aḥ, neshamah, ḥayyah, yeḥidah,
and of the doctrine of the Sefirot. Turning to more practical
matters Elijah discusses the means by which one can prepare
oneself for communion with the holy spirit (ru’aḥ ha-kodesh).
Since the principal requisite is “the fulfillment of the commandments
for their own sake,” he provides guidance for the
observance of the commandments, according to the teachings
of Isaac Luria. The love of one’s neighbor, Elijah maintains, is
one of the foundations of the service of God. However, higher
than the love of human beings is the love of God, which he discusses
in the final section of the work, entitled “Love and Joy,”
and which he defines as the soul’s cleaving to God. In addition
to Sefer ha-Berit, Elijah wrote a commentary on Immanuel Ḥai
*Ricchi’s Mishnat Ḥasidim (published in 1889); Mitzvot Tovim,
dealing with the reasons for the commandments (Ta’amei ha-
Mitzvot); Matmonei Mistarim, on the combinations of letters;
and Beit Yoẓer, a commentary on Sefer Yeẓirah. These last three
works are extant only in manuscript.
Bibliography: Ha-Me’assef (1809), 68–75; Letteris, in: Bikkurim
(1864/65), 51; S.J. Fuenn, Kiryah Ne’emanah (19152), 206; A.
Walden, Shem ha-Gedolim he-Ḥadash (1864), S.V. Phineḥas Elijah of
Vilna; H.D. Friedberg, Luḥot Zikkaron (1904), 93.
[Meir Hillel Ben-Shammai]
ELIMELECH (Heb. ְ ךֶלֶמיִלֱ א; “God [or my God] is king”), the
husband of *Naomi and father of Mahlon and *Chilion, from
Beth-Lehem in Judah. Due to the famine in Israel during the
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