ELIAS LEVITA (Elijah ben Asher ha-Levi):
Rabbi; b. at Neuetadt-on-the-Aisch (20 m. n.w.
of Nuremberg) 1489; d. at Venice Jan. 28, 1549.
His German birth is explicitly declared in the first
preface to his Massoret, a statement corroborated
by Kimchi and by Sebastian Münster. But Italy
became his second home, hence he could state at the
end of the
Methurgeman,
that he "wished to
return to Italy, the land whence he came, und die in
his city of Venice." He taught Hebrew at Padua
1504-09, lost his property there at the sack of that
city by the French, removed to Venice, thence to
Rome (in 1512), where he was under the protection of Egidio of Viterbo. When Rome was taken
by Charles V. (1527) a second time he lost his property. He removed to Venice, which became his
permanent home, with the exception of a few
intervals spent at Isny and in a visit to Germany,
1540-43.
Elias Levity would occupy an honorable place
among Hebrew grammarians, even if an extraordinary significance had not been attached to his
labor by the historical conditions under which it was
accomplished. His w:rk became a factor of that
historical advancement by which Christendom returned to the documentary sources of its doctrines.
To this new beginning of linguistic and historical
studies Elias Levity rendered important services.
After Reuchlin under the direction of the physician
Jacob Jehiel Loans (L. Geiger, ut inf., pp. 24, 26) had
mastered Hebrew, and after Matthias Adrianus, a
converted Jew from Spain, had been the teacher of
Pellican (Geiger, p. 43), Levita, through the mediation of Sebastian Münster and Paul Fagius, exercised a much stronger and more lasting influence
upon the transference of Hebrew knowledge to the
Christians. Still greater than in the department
of grammatical and lexical inquiries was the impulse which Elias Levita by his
Massoreth hammas$oreth
gave to the text-critical treatment of the Old
Testament. He brought his children up in the
Jewish faith in spite of his intimate intercourse with
Christian scholars; but to the greatest sorrow of
one of his daughters her two sons, Elisno and Sol.
Romano embraced the Christian faith (Graetz, ix.
335). Elias Levita was a pleasing example of a
scholar who [mew how to keep free from partizan
entanglements the interest in the subject of his
inquiry.
His writings are: (a) Teateritiosl:
Maaaoreth hammas
aoreth
(Venice, 1538; German translation by C. G. Meyer
with annotations by Semler, Halle, 1772; in
Hebrew and
English by D. Ginsburg,
London, 1887); (b) Grammatical:
Peruah al Pethach Debarag
(ascribed to Moses Kimehi [q.v.],
Pesaro, 1b07);
Biur al Mahmlakh ahebhile ha.daath ("
Eluci
dations on Kimchi's grammar
Mahalak,"
Pesaro, 1508; the
MahaTakh
with a Latin version by S. Münster, Basel, 1b27);
Sepher habbahur
(treating of Hebrew grammar, Rome, 1518,
revised edition, Isny, 1542; Hebrew and Latin by
Münster
under the title of
D%kduk,
Basel, 1518; with echolia, 1537,
1542);
3epher ha-harkabhah
(elucidation of words composed
of different forms, Rome, 1b19);
Sepher tub-ta'am
(on
Hebrew ascents, Venice, 1538, also Latinised by Münster);
Nimmukhim
(remarks on D. Bimahi'e
MikhlBl
and printed
with it, Venice, 1b45). (c) Lexical:
liahbi
(an explanation
of 712 words from Jewish literature, Basel, 1527);
Methurpeman
(a lexicon of Targumia and Talmudic words,
Ieny, 1b41);
Shemoth debharim (a
glossary of
Hebrew words,
Iany, Ib42);
Nimmu$im
(annotations to D. Kimchi's "Book
of Roots," printed together Venice, 1548); (d) Exegetical:
" The Psalms with Kimchi's commentary and corrections
by the editor,, (Ieny, 1b42); " The Psalms faithfully trans
lated into Judeo-German; " " the Targum to the
proverbs
with Glosses " (Iany, 1541); " The Book of Job in Rimes "
(Venice, 1544); (e) Literary:
Sepher habbabhah
(narrative of
the wonderful edenta of prince Buovo d'Antons, a novel),
Shirim,
"Hymns" (Venice, 1545).
E. König.
Bibliography:
J. C. Wolf,
Bibliotheca Hebraa, i.
1b3-181,
iii. 97-102, iv. 182, Hamburg, 171b-33; J. F. Hirt, Ori
sn, vii.
50 sqq., Jena ,
1778; J. Furat,
Bibliotheca judaica, ii.
239-242, Leipsic,
18493; L. Geiger,
Dos Stadium der hebräiadun Sprarhe
in Deutschland,
ib. 1870; J. Levi,
Elia Levita und seine
Leiatungen ale Grammatiker,
Breslau, 1888; Backer, in
ZDMG;
1889, 208-272; H. Graetz,
Geschichte der Juden,
vol. ix. passim, Leipsic, 1891; C. A. Briggs,
Study of Holy
Scripture,
passim, New York, 1899; JE, viii. 48-49.
