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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
201

ASHKENAZI, REUBEN SELIG ISRAEL ELIEZER: Rabbi and author;

BEN lived in

Russia about 1780. He published "Mahaneh Reuben " (Camp of Reuben), a commentary on the Talmud, Leghorn, 1777. Bibliography Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim., p. 331 Steinschneider. Cat. Bodl. col. 2139 Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Boohs Brit. Mus. p. 656. L. G. H. R.

ASHKENAZI, SABBATHAI BEN MEIR. novelise to the

Talmud

B.

ELIESER:

lived at

Opatow,

Fiirst, p. 183.

Bihl. Judaica,

64; Benjacob,

i.

Ozar

M. B.

l. g.

ASHKENAZI, SAUL COHEN:

Religious

philosopher of German descent, as his name indicates born in Candia 1470 died at Constantinople May 28, 1523. He was a disciple of Elijah del Medigo, who induced him to devote his attention to philosophy. His principal works are: (1) "Sheelot," a philosophic treatise, in the form of questions addressed to Isaac Abravanel, published together with the latter's replies and with philosophic essays by vaiious other authors, Venice, 1574, and (2) an epilogue to his master's chief work, " Behinat ha;

Dat," Basel, 1629. Bibliography: Geiger, Melo Hofnayim,

xxil. 64, 66, 72, Ber-

1840; Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 2507.

D.

ASHKENAZI,

-

SIMON,

OF

p.

397; Walden,

ASHKENAZI, SOLOMON BEN NATHAN

Court physician of King Sigismund II., Augustus of Poland (1548-72), and Turkish diplomat; born probably about 1520; died 1602. A descendant of a German family settled in Udine (Italy), he came in his early youth to Cracow, probably in the train of the Italian wife of Sigismund, Bona, and owing to his ability obtained the position of first physician Later he removed to Constantinople, to the king.

where he displayed great

skill in

Jews from Venice was revoked, July 19, In 1576 he was appointed envoy extraordinary of the Forte to Venice, with full power to conclude peace. But the republic was unwilling to receive the Jew, Ashkenazi and not until the grand vizier insisted was he finally acknowledged. Thereafter the Venetian authorities paid him great honor and attention. He was received in state audience and signed the act of peace in behalf of Turkey. He left three sons Nathan, Samuel, and Obadiah. His wife seems to have had some knowledge of medicine. After Ashkenazi's death she was called to the sick-bed of Sultan Mehemed III. and cured him of smallpox. Ashkenazi's son Nathan came from Constantinople to Venice in 1605, and was treated by the doge Grimani with great considof

,

eration.

Bibliography

The data for the biography of Ashkenazi are be found chiefly in the reports of the French ambassador to the Porte, and of M. de Ferriers, French ambassador to Venice (published by Charriere, Negotiations de la France dans le Levant, vol. ill., passim) as well as in the reports of the Venetian ambassador Marcantonio Barbaro (Alberi, Relaziani dealt Ambasciatori Veneti, vol. xvi., Florence, 1863) See also Joseph ha-Kohen, 'Eme7c ha-Baka, ed. LetZunz, 'Ir h'a-Zedek, confounds teris, Cracow, 1895, p. 167. the subject of this notice with Solomon of Kalahorra (pp. 68 et Gratz, Qesch. der Juden, ix., passim, and note 7 (also seq.). M. A. the Hebrew translation by Rabinowitz, vol. vii. 426) Levy, Don Joseph Nasi, etc., Breslau, 1859, 8.

to

,

.

H. R.

ASHKENAZI, ZEBI HIRSCH (HAKAM ZEBI) B. JACOB Rabbi bora 1658 in Moravia

died

May

2,

1718, at

Lemberg.

He was

descended

from a well-known family of scholars. When a boy he received instruction from his father and from his grandfather, Ephraim haEarly Kohen, then rabbi at Alt-Ofen, and Life and Education, later went to Salonica, where for some time he attended the school of Elihu There, also, he witnessed the deplorable aberrations which had grown out of the schisms engendered by the Shabbethai Zebi movement and this experience became a determining factor in his whole During his stay at Salonica, Ashkenazi decareer. voted himself mainly to an investigation of the Sephardic methods of study. Upon his return journey to Alt-Ofen he seems to have stayed some time (probably till 1679) at Constantinople, where his learning and astuteness made such an impression " hathat, though a Polish scholar, he was termed kam," which Sephardic title he thenceforth retained and by which he is known in history. Shortly after his return he married the daughter of a prominent

Cobo.

M. B.

k.

Henry, afterward

of Prance,

d.

GALICIA:

Rabbi of Dobromil and Jaroslav (Galicia) at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. He was a disciple of R. Jacob Isaac of Lublin (died 1815), and carried on a learned correspondence with Jacob Meshullam Orenstein, chief rabbi of Lemberg (died 1839). Ashkenazi wrote "Nahalat Shim'on" (Simon's Inheritance), a series of cabalistic dissertations on the Pentateuch (1815 2d ed., Lemberg, 1848). Bibliography: Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, Shem ha-Gedolim he-Hadash, 1. 128.

When

his side.

became king of Poland, Ashkenazi wrote to him " I have rendered to your Majesty most important service in securing your election. It was I who effected all that was done here" (Charriere, p. 932, note). It was partly due III.

wrote "Hiddushim," novelise on theTalmudic treatises Ketubot and Kiddushin, especialty on Rashi and the Tosafot. Ashkenazi's novellas were culled from the responsa literature (Prossnitz, 1602). ha-Sefarim,

King Henry

1573.

Poland, in the second half of the sixteenth century. He was a pupil of Meir b. Gedaliah of Lublin and

Bibliography:

grand vizier to

ment

ASHKENAZI, SAMUEL Author of

had powc rful influence. Ashkenazi, who then practically managed the foreign affairs of Turkey, decided in favor of Henry of Anjou, and won over the

to Ashkenazi's influence that the decree of banish-

See Sabbathai Cohen.

lin,

Ashkenazi, Meir Ashkenazi, Zetai

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

201

diplomatic affairs

member of the staff of Grand Vizier Mahomet Sakolli, who entrusted him with many delicate comDuring the Turkish war with Venice missions. as

for the possession of Cyprus (1570), Ashkenazi was engaged in the preliminaries for a treaty of peace. At the election of the Polish king in 1572, Turkey

citizen of Alt-Ofen.

was invested, Ashkenazi, young wife and daughter killed by a cannon-shot, was compelled to flee thus becom-

When,

in 1686, Alt-Ofen

after seeing his

ing separated from his parents, who were taken captive by the Prussians. Proceeding to Sarajevo,