Died 1108, Palestine | Books Midrash Lekach Tov | |
Tobiah ben Eliezer (Hebrew: טוביה בר אליעזר) was a Talmudist and poet of the 11th century, author of the Leḳaḥ Ṭov or Pesiḳta Zuṭarta, a midrashic commentary on the Pentateuch and the Five Megillot. Zunz (G. V. pp. 293 et seq.) inferred from Tobiah's reference to his father as "the great" and from his mention of the massacre in Mainz in 1096, that he was a native of Mainz and a son of Eliezer ben Isaac ha-Gadol, who is thought by David Conforte (Ḳore ha-Dorot, p. 8b) to have been one of Rashi's teachers. But as in the course of his work Tobiah often attacks the Karaites and, besides, manifests a thorough knowledge of Muslim customs, Samuel Judah Löb Rapoport, in his biography of Eleazer Kalir, note 33 (in Bikkure ha-'Ittim, x. 122-123), concluded that toward the end of his life Tobiah settled in Palestine.
Contents
Life and work
As to Tobiah's birthplace, it has been proved by Solomon Buber that he was a native of Kastoria at that time in Bulgaria, as is testified to by Tobiah's countryman Judah Leon Mosconi in his supercommentary on Ibn Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch. According to him, the author of the commentary on the Pentateuch mentioned by Ibn Ezra in the preface to his own work was a certain Meïr of Castoria, a pupil of Tobiah b. Eliezer. On the other hand, in his commentary on Ecclesiastes, Tobiah mentions a R. Samson as his teacher; and Buber supposes that he may be identical with the Samson quoted by Rashi in his commentary on Isa. lviii. 14 and Amos vi. 3. It is also to be concluded from various dates given by Tobiah in the course of his work that he wrote it in 1097 and revised it in 1107 or 1108.
Tobiah himself entitled his work "Leḳaḥ Ṭov" in allusion to his name Tobiah; and it is so cited by the earlier rabbis, e.g., Ibn Ezra (l.c.), Asheri in Hilkot Tefillin, Zedekiah ben Abraham in Shibbole ha-Leḳeṭ (§ 118), and many others. Since the middle of the 16th century, however, it has been most often referred to as Pesiḳta Zuṭarta (= "the Lesser Pesiḳta") in distinction to the Pesiḳta Rabbati (= "the Greater Pesiḳta"). This second title was because the editors of the part relating to Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (Venice, 1546), found no title in the manuscript, but noted that every verse was headed פס "pisḳa", and took it for granted that it was entitled Pesiḳta. Consequently, the rimed title which, Zunz (l.c.) thinks, was composed by the press-corrector Johanan Treves begins פסיקתא זוטרתא או רבתא ("Pesiḳta, be it small or great").
In the colophon the editors call it "Pesiḳta Zuṭarta." It was owing to the latter title that the "Leḳaḥ Ṭov" was confused with the Pesiḳta Rabbati by Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya (Shalshelet ha-Ḳabbalah, p. 24b, Amsterdam, 1697), by J. Heilprin (Seder ha-Dorot, i.), by Azariah dei Rossi (Me'or 'Enayim, ch. xix.), and by others. The Leḳaḥ Ṭov is in reality half commentary and half aggadah, covering the whole Pentateuch and the Five Megillot. Every weekly lesson is introduced by a Biblical verse containing the word "ṭob." Moreover, in the text he very often says, "I, Tobiah b. Eliezer" or "Tobiah said." It is true that in the Jerusalem manuscript there occurs very often the expression "our teacher Tobiah b. Eliezer," from which it might be assumed that the Leḳaḥ Ṭov was written by Tobiah's pupils; but from a closer examination of the text, and to judge from the Florence manuscript, it is evident that the expression in question is merely a copyist's mistake.
The Lekah Tov (לקח טוב)
As has been said above, the Leḳaḥ Ṭov is both a simple commentary ("peshaṭ"), giving the grammatical meaning of the words, and very often an aggadic commentary also. But in many instances Tobiah declares that the standard interpretation is the simple one. Even in his aggadic interpretation, which he derives from the Talmud and from the pre-Talmudic and post-Talmudic literatures, Tobiah manifests his love of good style. He endeavors to arrange the various midrashim in perfect order and to edit them in few words and clear language. He therefore shortens the midrashic passages, and, instead of the Aramaic in which those passages were written, renders them into good Hebrew, omitting also the foreign words which occur in the midrashim. In the parts of the Pentateuch which deal with the commandments he inserts many halakot, apparently taken from various halakhic collections, particularly from Achai Gaon's She'eltot. The Talmudic passages which he cites in connection with the halakot he often interprets according to his own judgment and differently from Rashi.