Reb Eliezer ben Eliyahu Ashkenazi zt"l, the Maasei Hashem
Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi zt"l
רבי אליעזר אשכנזי זצ״ל
Upcoming yahrzeit: 2 December 2026 (5787)
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Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi zt"l, Reb Eliezer ben Eliyahu, mechaber of Maasei Hashem, was born around 1512 (some write 1513). Some say he was born in the Levant, others mention Prague. He was niftar in Krakow on 22 Kislev 5346 (13 December 1585), and he rests in the Remah Beis Hachaim. The inscription on his matzeivah begins “HaGaon Mahar"r Eliezer Ashkenazi.”
He learned in Salonika by Reb Yosef Taitazak zy"a. For many years he was rav in Egypt, most likely in Fostat (Cairo), where he became well known in Torah and also as a man of means. He later served as rav in Famagusta, in Cyprus, for two years. From there he came to Venice, then to Prague (1561), where his was the first signature on the takanos of the chevra kadisha. He traveled as far as the Crimea, returned to Italy not before 1570, and was rav in Cremona, where he printed Yosef Lekach on Megillas Esther in 1576. He was later rav in Posen (Poznan). In 1584 he settled in Krakow, and there he was niftar the next year.
On the matzeivah there is a serpent emblem at the top. The Krakow kehillah writes that this is a sign of a rofeh, because he was also a physician. Your kvittel will be placed on the kever of Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi zt"l in the Remah Beis Hachaim in Krakow.
Historical background
Reb Eliezer Ashkenazi zt"l lived in the same century as the Remu zy"a, when Polish Jewry was a great Torah center and the Shulchan Aruch was being written and accepted. He served first in the kehillos of the East and of Italy, and later in Poland. He came to live in Krakow in 1584, twelve years after the Remu zy"a was niftar (1572), and he rests in the same Beis Hachaim. In those years a posek who had served in Egypt, Cyprus, Venice, Prague, Cremona, and Posen brought that wide Torah world with him to Krakow.
Before & after
Who came before
- Reb Yosef Taitazak of Salonika zy"a — His rebbi; a leading mekubal and rosh yeshiva in Salonika
- The Remu zy"a — The earlier posek of Krakow, of the same dor; Reb Eliezer zt"l settled in Krakow later, after the Remu's histalkus, and rests in the same Beis Hachaim
Who came after
- The Megaleh Amukos zy"a — Rosh yeshiva and darshan in Krakow a generation later; he also rests in the Remah Beis Hachaim
In his dor
- The Remu zy"a — A godol of the same dor. They corresponded, and the Remu brings a psak of his in Shu"t HaRema, siman 96. The sources do not place Reb Eliezer in Krakow until 1584, after the Remu was niftar in 1572.
- Reb Yosef Karo, the Beis Yosef zy"a — A godol of the same dor; the sources write that he held Reb Eliezer as a bar-samcha
- The Maharshal, Reb Shlomo Luria zy"a — A godol of the same dor in Poland; the sources write that he too held him as a bar-samcha
Sources
The facts on this page come from the earlier site and from the sources listed here. Where the sources are not one shittah, it is written in the text.
- Wikipedia: Eliezer ben Elijah Ashkenazi
- Jewish Encyclopedia: Ashkenazi, Eliezer (Lazer) b. Elijah
- Krakow Jewish Community: Eliezer Ashkenazi, rav in Krakow 1584–1585 (serpent on the matzeivah as a rofeh’s sign; correspondence with the Remu)
- Hebcal date converter (Hebrew–Gregorian yahrzeit dates, including 5787)
Send a kvittel
Send a kvittel to Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi zt"l
Write the names and your bakashah. The kvittel will be brought to this kever. A pidyon of eighteen dollars or more goes with it; you choose the amount, and you will be taken to a secure payment page. The shliach receives the kvittel only once the pidyon is received.