ELIJAH BEN LOEB OF FULDA

ELIJAH BEN LOEB OF FULDA (c. 1650/60–c. 1720), rabbi and halakhic author. Elijah was born in Wiznica (Poland),   where he spent most of his life, and where he died. Toward the end of his life he moved to Fulda (southwest Germany), although there is no evidence that he became rabbi there as has been stated by some. Elijah made a special study of the Jerusalem Talmud, his fame resting principally on his commentaries to Shekalim (Frankfurt, 1689), the order of Zera'im (Amsterdam, 1710), Bava Kamma and Bava Meẓia (Offenbach, 1725), and Bava Batra (Frankfurt, 1742). Using manuscripts upon which he also relied for his corrections to the editio princeps of the Jerusalem Talmud, Elijah's commentaries deal with each topic in halakhah and aggadah. His style is generally succinct; lengthier discussions are inserted in a separate rubric. Elijah's commentary was published approximately 50 years after that of joshua benveniste , the existence of which was unknown to him, and his commentary, published together with the text, exercised great influence on his contemporaries and initiated the systematic study of the Jerusalem Talmud in 18th-century Poland. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Ginzberg, Perushim ve-Ḥiddushin ba-Yerushalmi, 1 (1941). (Jacob Haberman)