JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

enjamin ben zerah
no. 720; Tos. to Ḥag. 12a; Shelomo b. Yiẓḥak (Rashi), Pardes, ed. by
Ehrenreich (1923), 229; S. Bernstein, Piyyutim u-Faytanim Ḥadashim
me-ha-Tekufah ha-Bizantinit (1947), 44–57; H. Merḥaviah, in: Sefer
Ḥayyim Schirmann (1970), 195–212.
BENJAMIN BEN ZERAH (c. 1050), liturgical poet. Benjamin
probably lived in France or in Germany. He composed
liturgical poetry of various sorts in the style of the earliest
paytanim, but his works already contain the names of angels
and other holy appellations. Because of the esteem accorded
to him, he was designated Ha-Gadol (“the Great”). He was also
called Ba’al ha-Shem (“Master of the Divine Name”), possibly
on account of the numerous names of God and the angels in
his poems. About 60 of his piyyutim are known, many being
included in the Ashkenazi and Italian liturgies.
Bibliography: Landshuth, Ammudei, 52; Davidson, Oẓar,
4 (1933), 371; Zunz, Lit Poesie, 120–3, 239–43, 615.
[Abraham Meir Habermann]
BENJAMIN NEHEMIAH BEN ELNATHAN (16th century),
Italian Jewish chronicler. Exiled from Naples, and later a resident
or perhaps rabbi of Civitanova near Ancona, he was arrested
with five other members of the Jewish community in
the summer of 1559 on a charge of being implicated in the
conversion of a Catholic priest. They were sent to Rome for
trial by the Inquisition but were released with the other prisoners
of the Holy Office on the death of Pope *Paul IV. On
Benjamin’s return he wrote a vivid account of his experiences,
viewing them in the historical context of Paul IV’s persecution
of the Jews and Marranos of Ancona, which he apparently witnessed.
He wrote his account in fine, idiomatic Hebrew, and
it is an important contribution to Hebrew literature as well as
to Jewish history. The chronicle was discovered by I. Sonne
and published in Tarbiz (vol. 2, 1930/31), and again in his Mi-
Paolo ha-Revi’i ad Pius ha-Hamishi (1954).
[Cecil Roth]
BENJAMIN OF BRODY (18th-century), preacher. Benjamin
was the official preacher of the Jewish community in Berdichev
for 17 years, after which he moved to Brody. His sermons
were collected in the book Imrei Binyamin (Tarnopol, 1814) by
his grandson, Meir Eliezer b. Phinehas. Benjamin’s sermons,
which follow the order of the weekly Torah portions, are undoubtedly
edited versions of those he had originally delivered
orally. Rabbinic in character, they deal frequently with
halakhic problems, interpretations of talmudic sayings, and
moralistic preaching.
BENJAMIN OF CAMBRIDGE (12th–13th century), English
scholar, pupil of R. *Tam. A number of Benjamin’s opinions
on halakhah, grammar, and exegesis are preserved in scattered
secondary sources. He is referred to as “Benjamin of איירבטנק,”
formerly interpreted as Canterbury, but without doubt designating
Cambridge (“Caunbrigge”). His English origin is confirmed
by the citation of one of his opinions by *Elijah Mena-
hem b. Moses of London. He is to be identified with “Magister
Benjamin” of Cambridge, mentioned in English records, who
maintained the local synagogue.
Bibliography: C. Roth, Intellectual Activities of Medieval
English Jewry (1948), 136, 149; H.P. Stokes, Studies in Anglo-Jewish
History (1913), 113–4; J. Jacobs, Jews of Angevin England (1893), 54,
281; S. Eppenstein, in: MGWJ, 40 (1896), 178; 41 (1897), 222; Urbach,
in: Essays … I. Brodie (Heb. vol., 1966), 13ff.
[Cecil Roth]
BENJAMIN OF TIBERIAS, leader of Palestinian Jewry at
the beginning of the seventh century C.E. At the time of the
Persian invasion of Ereẓ Israel in 614, Benjamin appears to
have been among the Jewish leaders who negotiated with the
Persians; as a result of these contacts, the Persian armies received
Jewish military support. Benjamin then considered the
Christians to be the enemies of his people; however, when the
armies of Heraclius, the Byzantine emperor, reconquered the
country in 628, he was compelled to receive them on friendly
terms. Benjamin, who was exceedingly wealthy, accomodated
the emperor in Tiberias and then succeeded in obtaining a
general pardon from him for those Jews who had committed
offenses against Christians under Persian rule. Benjamin accompanied
Heraclius to Jerusalem in 629, and on the way the
emperor succeeded in persuading him to be converted. He was
baptized in the house of Eustathios, an influential Christian
living in Neapolis (now Nablus). In Jerusalem the members of
the Christian clergy influenced Heraclius to break the promise
which he had given to the Jews through the intervention of
Benjamin; the emperor condemned many of them to death,
and prohibited the Jews from living in Jerusalem or within a
three-mile radius of the city. There is no further mention of
Benjamin in historical sources.
Bibliography: M. Avi-Yonah, Bi-Ymei Roma u-Bizantyon
(19522), 190, 200f.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
BENJAMIN (Ben Jonah) OF TUDELA (second half of 12th
century), the greatest medieval Jewish traveler. Nothing whatsoever
is known about him except that which emerges from
his famous Sefer ha-Massaʿot (Book of Travels). (See Map: Benjamin
of Tudela’s Travels.) He is frequently called “Rabbi” by
non-Jewish writers, but there is no authority for this except
that the conventional abbreviation “ר” is prefixed to his name
in the Hebrew sources. From internal evidence the beginning
of his journeys has been dated either about 1159 or about 1167,
and he returned to Spain in 4933 (1172/73). His journeys lasted
therefore a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 14 years. Since
he spent at least a year on the last lap of his journey, from the
time he left Egypt to the time of his return to Spain, the latter
conjecture is more probable. In any case, he obviously had leisure
to spend some time in the places he describes. The object
of his journey is unknown, though it has been suggested that
he was a gem-merchant – he more than once shows an interest
in the coral trade. His Book of Travels, largely impersonal,
362 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3