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elishah
of Elisha (Hebrew; 1990); J. Rubenstein, Talmudic Stories (1999); A.
Goshen-Gottstein, The Sinner and the Amnesiac (2000).
[Stephen G. Wald (2nd ed.)]
ELISHAH (Heb. הָׁ שי ִלא), ֱ one of the sons of Javan, a grandson
of Japheth (Gen. 10:4; I Chron. 1:7), and also the name of
the island from which the Tyrians obtained blue and purple
dyes (Ezek. 27:7). Elishah is usually identified with the name
Alašiya (= *Cyprus, or a part of the island) which occurs in
document form in Alalakh, Tell el-Amarna, Ugarit, and in Hittite
sources. The copper of Alašiya was already well-known in
*Mari in the Old Babylonian period. Other forms of Elishah
are Ugaritic, Alṯy (“from Alṯ”), and Egyptian ʾá-la-sá.
Bibliography: G.F. Hill, A History of Cyprus, 1 (1940), 42–50;
C.F. Schaeffer, Enkomi-Alasia (1952); EM, 1 (1955), 52–3 (incl. bibl.); J.
Simons, The Geographical and Topographical Texts of the Old Testament
(1959), 28–29; H.W. Catling, in: CAH2, vol. 1, ch. 9 (1966), 58–62;
Ugaritica, 5 (1968), index.
ELISHA ḤAYYIM BEN JACOB ASHKENAZI (d. 1673),
father of *Nathan of Gaza and emissary of the Ashkenazi
community of Jerusalem. In 1650 Ashkenazi and the kabbalist
Solomon Navarro were sent as emissaries to North Africa
by their community. On their return, they stayed for a time
in Venice where Isaac *Bing of Jerusalem published Joseph
*Caro’s Maggid Meisharim (1654), from a manuscript which
Ashkenazi had brought from Jerusalem. Bing had published
the first part of the work in Lublin in 1646. Ashkenazi also
brought to Italy for publication Abraham *Galante’s Zohorei
Ḥammah, a commentary on the *Zohar (Venice, 1655). During
his stay in Italy, Solomon Navarro converted to Christianity.
The money they had collected on their mission was therefore
lost, and Ashkenazi was compelled to begin anew, leaving
for Germany and Poland. He returned to Italy in 1665, and
in Leghorn heard of his son’s prophecies in Gaza. Ashkenazi
proceeded to Ereẓ Israel via Egypt, where he was received by
the wealthy Raphael Joseph with honor and gifts, on account
of his son, the prophet. In 1666 he again departed for Germany
and Poland on a mission for the Ashkenazi community
of Jerusalem, passing through Constantinople, the Balkans,
Budapest, and Vienna. Toward the end of his life, Ashkenazi
went to Morocco on a mission, and he died there in the city
of Meknès. It is possible that he brought his son’s kabbalistic
writings with him on this mission, for they were circulated
widely throughout Morocco at that time. Certainly the fact
that Nathan’s father was well known and respected in the
North African communities facilitated the spread of Shabbateanism
there. There is no doubt that Ashkenazi believed in
the prophecies of his son, who corresponded with him notifying
him of his activities, and in the messianism of *Shabbetai
Ẓevi, even after the latter’s conversion to Islam. Ashkenazi’s
other son, AZARIAH ḥAYYIM ASHKENAZI, was also sent to
Morocco as an emissary of the Jerusalem Ashkenazi community.
His novellae on the Torah appeared in Mareh Einayim
(in Ms.) written by Eliezer Bahalul in 1710.
Bibliography: Yaari, Sheluḥei (1951), 281–2, 331; Scholem,
Shabbetai Zevi, 162–3, 188, 544, 602, 770–1.
[Avraham Yaari]
ELISHEBA (Heb. עַ בֶׁ שי ִלא; ֱ “[my] God is fullness”), wife of
*Aaron, the daughter of Amminadab, and the sister of *Nahshon.
She bore Aaron four sons, *Nadab, *Abihu, *Eleazar,
and *Ithamar (Ex. 6:23).
Bibliography: Noth, Personennamen, 146; Rowley, in: JNES,
3 (1944), 75–76; Koehler, in: ZAW, 55 (1937), 165–6.
°ELISHEVA (pen name of Elisheva Bikhowsky née Elizaveta
Zhirkova; 1888–1949), non-Jewish Hebrew poet. Born
in Russia, she began writing poetry in Russian in 1907, came
into contact with Jewish circles, and was deeply attracted by
the movement for Jewish national renaissance. Her admiration
for the Jewish people and their hopes for redemption
found expression in poems full of yearning for the beautiful
and noble qualities of Judaism. Her Russian poems were published
in two volumes in 1919: Minuty (“Minutes”) and Tainye
Pesni (“Hidden Songs”). She studied Hebrew, which she regarded
as the “language of the heart of lights and shadow,”
and translated into Russian works by Judah Steinberg, J.Ḥ.
Brenner, J.D. Berkowitz, G. Schoffmann, and U.N. Gnessin.
Her first Hebrew poems were published in Ha-Tekufah (1921)
no. 13. In addition to stories and poems, her Hebrew writings
include articles of literary criticism on Hebrew and general
European literature, particularly Russian. In 1925 she settled
in Palestine with her husband Simeon Bikhowsky, whom she
had married in 1920. Referred to as “Ruth from the banks of
the Volga,” her stories and her poems are pervaded by a deep
love of everything Jewish. Her poems often have the innocence
of a folk song, while her stories reflect a desire to stress the
noble elements in life and to describe all that is good and exalted
in man. Her Hebrew books are Kos Ketannah (“A Small
Cup,” poems, 1926); Sippurim (“Stories,” 1928); “Mikreh Tafel”
(“Unimportant Incident,” a story, 1929); Simtaot (“Alleys,” a
novel, 1929; 1977); Meshorer ve-Adam (“Poet and Man,” about
the poetry of Aleksandr Blok, 1929); Shirim (“Poems,” 1946). A
collection of poems, Yalkut Shirim, appeared in 1970.
Bibliography: V. Weiner, Pirkei Ḥayyim ve-Sifrut (1960),
74–96; Genazim, 1 (1961), 151–67. Add. Bibliography: Koveẓ
Ma’amarim odot ha-Meshoreret Elisheva (1927); H. Barzel, “Essay,”
in: Simta’ot (1977); G. Shaked, in: Maariv (Sept. 7, 1983); idem, Ha-
Sipporet ha-’Ivrit, 3 (1988), 87–93; O. Rav-Hon, in: Moznayim, 67:10
(1993), 7–11; S. Kagan, Elisheva: “The Forgotten Poetess,” in: Jewish
Affairs, 52:3 (1997), 115–18; S. Kornhandler, Ikkaron ha-Hitraḥavut
ha-Zhaneristit bi-Yeẓiratah shel Elisheva (1999); D. Miron, “She’atah
shel Elisheva,” in: Iyyunim bi-Tekumat Yisrael, 12 (2002), 521–66; 13,
345–92.
[Gedalyah Elkoshi]
ELISOFON, ELIOT (1911–1973), U.S. photographer. Born in
New York, the first generation of his Latvian Jewish family in
America, Elisofon grew up in poverty and he later developed
an immense sympathy for the victims of the cataclysms he
354 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6