MAẒLI'AḤ

MAẒLI'AḤ (Heb. מַצְלִיחַ), moshav in central Israel, near Ramleh, affiliated with Tenu'at ha-Moshavim. Founded in 1950 by karaites from Egypt, it was named after Sahal b. Maẓliaḥ, a Karaite leader who lived in Jerusalem, and it is one of the principal Karaite centers in Israel. In 1969 Maẓli'aḥ had 690 inhabitants, rising to 1,030 in 2002 after expansion. Residents earned their livelihoods in farming (about 20 active farms), small enterprises, and work outside the settlement. (Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.) MAẒLI'AḤ BEN SOLOMON HA-KOHEN MAẒLI'AḤ BEN SOLOMON HA-KOHEN (d. 1139), the first of the Egyptian geonim. His father, R. Solomon b. Elijah ha-Kohen\>\> , left Tyre and settled in Ḥadrak (near Damascus), where he founded the Yeshivah Ereẓ ha-Zevi. Upon his father's death, R. Maẓli'aḥ, who had no doubt studied at the yeshivah when it was still in Tyre, headed this institution. For some unknown reason R. Maẓli'aḥ left Syria and arrived in Fostat in 1127. The yeshivah which he founded within the synagogue of the Jerusalemites occasionally rivaled that of Damascus because its leaders felt that it also possessed the right to refer to itself as yeshivat Ereẓ ha-Ẓevi (i.e., of Ereẓ Israel). R. Maẓli'aḥ assumed the title of rosh yeshivat Ge'on Ya'akov ("rosh yeshivah of the Glory of Jacob"). It appears that his spiritual influence was important and that it extended to the whole of Yemen. Many letters and documents issued by his bet din are extant. Upon his death, he was succeeded by R. Moses b. Nethanel ha-Levi, who was his deputy and av bet din in the yeshivah. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mann, Egypt, index S.V. Maṣiaḥ Gaon; Mann, Texts, 1 (1931), 255f.; idem, in: HUCA, 3 (1926), 293; S.D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society (1967), 260, 380, 485 n. 15; idem, in: Sinai, 33 (1953), 227ff.; S. Assaf, Be-Oholei Ya'akov (1943), 91. (Abraham David)