ASHKENAZI, ELIEZER B. SOLOMON:

By: Richard Gottheil, Isaac Broydé

Rabbinical scholar; born in Poland about the beginning of the nineteenth century, and resided afterward in Tunis. He published at Metz in 1845, under the title "Dibre Ḥakamim" (The Words of the Wise), a selection of eleven ancient manuscripts: (1) "Midrash Wayosha'," on the Pentateuch; (2) Joseph Caro's Commentary on Lamentations; (3)Maimonides' "Ḥokmat ha-'Ibbur," a treatise on the computation of the intercalary month; (4) Abraham bar Ḥiyyah's seventh "gate" of the third treatise on the computation of the intercalary month, with a responsum by Hai Gaon on the calculation of the years since the Creation; (5) Moses Narboni's "Maamar ba-BeḦirah," a treatise on free-will; (6) "NussaḦ Ketab," a letter from Joshua Lorki on religion; (7) Isaac Ardotiel's "Meliẓah 'al ha-'Eṭ," a prose poem on the pen; (8) David b. Yom-Ṭob's "Yesodot ha-Maskil," thirteen articles of belief of an enlightened man; (9) "RaMBaM," a letter from Maimonides addressed to Rabbi Japhet the Dayyan; (10) a letter by Elijah of Italy, written from Palestine to his family at Ferrara, in 1438; (11) Jacob Provençal's "Be-Debar Limmud ha-Ḥokmah," on the study of science.

S. Munk has written an introduction to this collection, which contains also, as an appendix, a French translation of "Yesodot ha-Maskil" by "H. B."

Ashkenazi published also "Ta'am Zeḳenim" (The Taste of Old Men), edited by R. Kirchheim, a collection of old manuscripts and prints dealing with Jewish literature and history in the Middle Ages (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1854).

G. I. Br.