Eliezer Ben Elijah Ashkenazi - Misunderstood By Polish Rabbis

Misunderstood By Polish Rabbis

The Jews of Poland were still less capable of comprehending such a personality than were those of Italy. The following occurrence affords a striking instance of this fact: The "rashei yeshivot" (heads of academies) had forbidden their pupils to establish a rival academy in close proximity to their own. Ashkenazi declined to assent to this resolution, when requested. At the same time, he complained in a letter to Joseph ben Mordechai Gershon ha-Kohen, the "rosh yeshibah" at Cracow, that, although the decision of the Polish rabbis was based upon the authority of Maimonides, yet he considered it irreconcilable with freedom of instruction among rabbis. How little he was understood by his Polish colleagues is fully displayed in the reply of the rabbi of Cracow, who at great length vindicates Maimonides' standpoint by erudite and astute references to the Talmud (Joseph b. Mordecai Gershon, She'erit Yosef, No. 19). Consequently, J. S. del Medigo is justified in his remark that Ashkenazi remained unknown to the Poles, and he applies to him wittily, if somewhat audaciously, the verses: "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it," etc. (Ps. lxxx. 9 to 13 ). Ashkenazi had come from Egypt and had to live among the uncultivated Poles.

Ashkenazi's wife, Rachel, died at Cracow April 3, 1593. Her epitaph, still extant, bears witness to her piety and benevolence (Monatsschrift, xliv. 360). His son Elijah published the liturgic collection, Zibhe Shelamim, and wrote a short elegy on his father, which was used as the latter's epitaph.