JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

(1860), 32; Schorr, in: He-Ḥalutz, 6 (1862), 67ff.; J. Saphir, Even Sappir,
1 (1866), 11–20; 2 (1874), 185ff.; B.Z. Bacher, Niẓẓanei ha-Dikduk
(1927), 27–41; D. Yellin, Toledot Hitpatteḥut ha-Dikduk ha-Ivri (1945),
6–29; M.H. Segal, Mevo ha-Mikra, 4 (19523), 896–9 and esp. notes 15,
17; Ben-Ḥayyim, in: Leshonenu, 18 (1953), 92–94; B. Klar, Meḥkarim
ve-Iyyunim (1954), 276–319; Cassuto, in: Haaretz (April 15, 1949).
Add. Bibliography: E.J. Revell, in: ABD, 4: 593–94; J. Penkower,
in: DBI, 1:117–19.
[Zeev Ben-Hayyim]
BEN-ASHER, MOSES (second half of ninth century), scribe
and masorete. Moses was the fourth in the line of well-known
masoretes descended from Asher the Elder, and the father of
the last, Aaron. A manuscript by him of the Former and Latter
Prophets has survived, written, pointed, and furnished with
accents and masoretic notes. Found today in the Karaite synagogue
in Cairo, it has been photographed a number of times
(one photocopy is in Jerusalem). A colophon by Ben-Asher
at the end of the manuscript testifies that he wrote it in Tiberias
in the year 827 after the destruction of the Second Temple
(i.e., 896 C.E.). The manuscript is a beautiful one, embellished
with drawings and illuminations, the work of an expert artist,
in a style which, according to the latest investigations, constitutes
an ancient specimen of Islamic decorative art, older
than any extant surviving Koran and thus perhaps the most
ancient of this type.
The vowel-points, the accents, and the masoretic notes
are marked with the stamp of antiquity, but deviate greatly
from the method of pointing of his son Aaron, whose method
is nowadays called “the school of Ben-Asher” (see *Ben-Asher,
Aaron). A comparison of the readings in the manuscript with
the list of variants in the Kitāb al-Khulaf of Mishael b. Uzziel
shows that in almost two-thirds of the cases the manuscript
follows the reading of *Ben-Naphtali, and only in one-third,
that of Aaron Ben-Asher (see *Masorah). At times it also
maintains its own independent reading. In about a quarter
of the cases in which the two authorities agree, according to
Mishael, he differs from both their readings. He points לֵ אָ רְׂשיִ ּב
(Jer. 29:23) and הָ אְ רי ִל (Jer. 32:39). Accordingly the Ms. displays
a great measure of affinity with what was later termed “the
school of Ben-Naphtali.” On the other hand it contains a great
number of ge’ayot (i.e., metegs; “secondary stress”), more than
was usual in other manuscripts of his time, particularly ge’ayot
in open syllables (known as ga’ayah gedolah “major ga’ayah”).
There are also other anomalies in the pointing, such as some
degeshim in the letter א (יִ ּאֹ ולת/ ּ ּב, Jer. 38:12; םי ּאּולת, ֵ Hos. 11:7).
It follows that the actual tradition of pointing was not uniform
throughout the generations of the Ben-Asher family; it
was only the occupation with the masorah that they had in
common. Another possibility, suggested by A. Dotan, is that
the pointing and accents of the manuscript are by a different
scribe and that Moses Ben-Asher only wrote the consonantal
text. In any event the fragment entitled “The order of Scripture,”
which he copied at the end of the manuscript (p. 583),
was certainly not written by him.
benatzky, ralph
No other works by Moses have survived, but his name is
mentioned in an Arabic genizah fragment (Cambridge, Ms.
T.-S. Arabic 9/5): “and Moses Ben-Asher, may God have mercy
upon him, has already written a large book.…” Because that
fragment also mentions, though without any connection with
M. Ben-Asher, the expressions התוצמ (“vowel”), תאתוצמ ׳זלא
(“the seven vowels”), Allony conjectured that the large book
attributed here to M. Ben-Asher is the anonymous Kitāb al-
Muṣawwitāt mentioned in several places in the writings of Jonah
*Ibn Janaḥ. Mention of it has also been discovered in Nissim
Gaon’s Megillat Setarim (see *Nissim b. Jacob b. Nissim),
where it is ascribed to Ben-Asher (with no first name). At present
there is not sufficient evidence to accept this conjecture. It
would appear that he also wrote piyyutim and composed the
“Song of the Vine,” in which the people of Israel is compared
to a vine whose roots are the patriarchs, and from which come
forth the prophets and sages. Mention is also made there of the
masorah, the accents, and the work of the masoretes. Most of
the poem is extant, in three manuscripts (one of which is Ms.
Leningrad B 19a); only its end is missing. The initial letters of
the remnant verses form the acrostic … שא ןב השמ (“Moses
Ben-Ash…”). This poem contains one of the decisive proofs
that M. Ben-Asher was not a Karaite.
In some places the name has been corrupted as a result
of a faulty completion of the abbreviation “Ben-Asher,” as in
the commentary Migdal Oz on Maimonides’ Yad, Sefer Torah
8:4, where “Moses Ben-Asher” occurs instead of Aaron, and as
in the British Museum manuscript (Or. 4227, p. 274b) where
“Moses b. Aaron Ben-Asher, the great scribe,” occurs instead
of Aaron b. Moses.
Bibliography: J. Saphir, Even Sappir, 1 (1866), 14a–17a; 2
(1874), 185–91; R. Gottheil, in: JQR, 17 (1905), 639–41; E.S. Artom
(Hartom), in: Ha-Kinnus ha-Olami le Madda’ei ha-Yahadut, 1 (1952),
190–4; B. Klar, Meḥkarim ve-Iyyunim (1954), 309–14; Pérez Castro, in:
Sefarad, 15 (1955), 3–30; A. Dotan, in: Sinai, 41 (1957), 288–91, 295–9,
357–62; idem (ed.), The Diqduqé Haṭṭēʿamim of Ahāron ben Mōse ben
Ašér, 1 (1967), 70f.; M. Zucker, in: Tarbiz, 27 (1957/58), 61–82; P.E.
Kahle, The Cairo Geniza (19592), 82–86, 91–105; idem, Der hebraeische
Bibeltext seit Franz Delitzsch (1961), 51–76; R.H. Pinder Wilson and
R. Ettinghausen, ibid., 95–98; N. Allony, in: HUCA, 35 (1964), 1–35
(Heb. pt.); idem, in: Sefer Segal (1964), 271–91; idem, in: Leshonenu,
29 (1964/65), 9–23, 136–59; I. Yeivin, Keter Aram-Ẓovah (1968), 360f.
Add. Bibliography: D. Levit-Tawil, in: JNES, 53 (1994), 157–93.
[Aron Dotan]
BENATZKY, RALPH (1884–1957), composer. Benatzky was
born in Moravske-Budejovice and studied in Prague and Munich.
A composer of light music, he wrote about five thousand
songs and 92 operettas. The best known was Im Weissen Roessl
(1930), which became famous throughout the world as White
Horse Inn. Benatzky went to live in the United States in 1938,
but later returned to Europe and settled in Zurich. He wrote
the scores for about 250 films.
Bibliography: Riemann-Gurlitt; Baker, Biog. Dict.
[Dora Leah Sowden]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 321