BENJAMIN BEN AARON OF ZALOZCE

BENJAMIN BEN AARON OF ZALOZCE (late 18th century), East European homilist. In his sermons he commented pointedly on the social and religious life of his time. His didactic works include instructions on personal behavior and on the conduct of Jewish community leaders. He was involved also in the controversy concerning the spiritual value of immigration to Ereẓ Israel, which was a main issue among Jewish thinkers in the 1760s and 1770s. His writings include some important quotations from Israel b. Eliezer Ba'al Shem\>\> , the founder of Ḥasidism, and other early ḥasidic teachers. His three main works are Amtaḥat Binyamin, a homiletic exegesis on Ecclesiastes (Minkowitz, 1796); Ahavat Dodim, on Song of Songs (Lvov, 1795); and Turei Zahav, a major collection of sermons on the weekly portions of the Pentateuch, and on the holy days (Mogilev, 1816). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Dinur, Be-Mifneh ha-Dorot (1955), index S.V. Binyamin me-Zeloziẓ; I. Werfel Ha-Ḥasidut ve-Ereẓ Yisrael (1940), 39–46.