JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

elyashiv
ried the daughter of *ḥakham bashi, Raphael Meir *Panigel.
He was appointed a dayyan in Jerusalem in 1853, and in 1869
head of the bet din. He succeeded his father-in-law as ḥakham
bashi and rishon le-Zion in 1893.
A cultured scholar and a fluent linguist, Elyashar wrote
thousands of responsa in answer to questions from both
Ashkenazim and Sephardim all over the world. He was respected
by the authorities and the heads of other religious
communities, and received orders of merit from the Turkish
sultan, Abdul Hamid, in 1893, and the German kaiser,
William II, in 1898. He was accepted by both the Sephardi
and Ashkenazi communities and worked hard to put religious
institutions in Jerusalem on a solid foundation. The affection
in which he was held is reflected in the fact that he was referred
to as “Yissa Berakhah” (“conferring a blessing”), the word
Yissa (אָ שִי) ּׂ being derived from the Hebrew initials of his
name. He enjoyed marked success as an emissary to Smyrna
(1845), Damascus (1854), Alexandria (1856), and Leghorn
(1873).
In 1888 when a controversy arose as to the permissibility
of working on the land during the following year, a sabbatical
year, Elyashar decided that such work could be permitted
by selling the land formally to a non-Jew, but suggested that
each Jewish agricultural settlement leave a small portion of
land uncultivated as a symbol and reminder of the commandment.
Elyashar died in Jerusalem, where the Givat Sha’ul district
is named after him.
He was the author of the following works, all published
in Jerusalem (some by his son, Ḥayyim Moshe) and all bearing
the word “Ish,” the initials of his name, in their title:
(1) Yikrav Ish (1876–81), 2 parts, novellae and responsa,
which were included in the Benei Binyamin of his stepfather;
(2) Ish Emunim (1888), homilies for festivals and various special
occasions; (3) Ma’aseh Ish (1892), responsa; (4) Derekh
Ish, homilies; (5) Divrei Ish, 2 parts (1892–96), homilies;
(6) Simḥah le-Ish (1888), novellae, responsa, and piyyutim;
(7) Yissa Ish (1896), responsa; (8) Olat Ish, responsa, as well
as a number of sermons entitled Penei Ish (1899); (9) Sha’al
ha-Ish (1909), responsa and rulings, together with responsa
by his son, Ḥayyim Moshe, entitled Penei ḤaMA; (10) Kavod
le-Ish (1910), responsa, including the eulogies in his honor.
Elyashar possessed a large collection of manuscripts, some of
which are in the Jerusalem National Library.
His eldest son, Rabbi ḥAYYIM MOSHE ELYASHAR (1845–
1924), a merchant and businessman, represented the Jewish
community on the council of heads of religious communities
established by the Turkish authorities, and, in the early
days of the Mandate, served as rishon le-Ẓion. He was one of
the initiators of the combined rabbinical committee which
was the forerunner of the chief rabbinate of Ereẓ Israel. His
son ISAAC ELIACHAR (1873–1933), the first chairman of the
United (Sephardi and Ashkenazi) Jewish Community Council
of Jerusalem, was appointed to the Jerusalem municipality
in 1917. His grandson ELIYAHU ELIACHAR (1898–1981) was
chairman of the United Community Council of Jerusalem
from 1938 until 1949. He headed for many years the Committee
of the Sephardi Community of Jerusalem and served
during the mandatory period as a member of the Asefat ha-
Nivḥarim and the Va’ad Le’ummi. He was a member of the
First and Second Knesset.
Bibliography: J.S. Elyashar, Toledot ve-Zikhronot (autobiography),
in: Lu’aḥ Ereẓ Yisrael, 6 (1900), 39–61, ed. and annot. by
A.M. Luncz; Frumkin-Rivlin, 3 (1929), 310–1; M.D. Gaon, Yehudei
ha-Mizraḥ be-Ereẓ Yisrael, 2 (1937), 59–60, 62–68; Yaari, Sheluḥei,
index; Benayahu, in: Yerushalayim, 4 (1953), 212; EẓD.
[Geulah Bat Yehuda (Raphael)]
ELYASHIV (Heb. בישָיְלֶ ִ ׁ א), moshav in central Israel, in the
Ḥefer Plain, affiliated to Tenu’at ha-Moshavim. One of the first
Yemenite agricultural settlements in Israel, it was founded in
1933. Its economy was based on intensive farming including
citrus orchards as well as outside employment. In 2002 the
population of Elyashiv was 436.
[Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)]
ELZAS, BARNETT ABRAHAM (1867–1939), U.S. Reform
rabbi and historian. Elzas was born in Germany, the son of a
Hebrew teacher, and moved with his parents to Holland and
then to London where he was educated at Jews’ College and
the University of London. In 1890 he went to America and
served congregations in Toronto, Canada and Sacramento,
California, being eventually appointed to the pulpit of Congregation
Beth Elohim in Charleston, South Carolina (1894). Elzas
became keenly interested in local Jewish history and made
an exhaustive study of records of Charleston Jewry and of the
older smaller communities of the state. After writing a number
of studies on the subject, he produced the comprehensive
Jews of South Carolina: From Earliest Times to the Present Day
(1905), which still ranks as one of the best historical studies of
an American Jewish community. While in Charleston, Elzas
also qualified at the Medical College of South Carolina (1900),
although he never practiced. In 1910 he moved to New York
City where he ministered to the Hebrew Congregation of the
Deaf and served as Jewish chaplain to the City Department
of Correction and the State Mental Hygiene Department. He
also served as president of the New York Board of Rabbis. In
1912 Elzas became rabbi of Beth Miriam Congregation, Long
Branch, N.J.
Bibliography: Bloch, in: CCARY, 47 (1937), 225–9; C. Reznikoff
and U.Z. Engelman, The Jews of Charleston (1950), index.
[Thomas J. Tobias]
EMANATION, a theory describing the origin of the material
universe from a transcendent first principle. According to this
theory, the universe, which is multiple, is generated from the
One, which is unitary, through the medium of a hierarchy of
immaterial substances. The ultimate source is undiminished,
while the beings which are emanated are progressively less
perfect as they are further removed from the first principle.
The process is conceived as being atemporal. In neoplatonic
372 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6