Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, August 17th, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Bible Encyclopedias
Elijah ben Shemaiah

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

Search for…
Resource Toolbox

Italian rabbi and liturgical poet; lived at Bari in the twelfth century. He was one of the teachers of Samuel b. Naṭronai; and his signature, with those of many other rabbis, is appended to a responsum found in Samuel's novellæ on Maimonides ("Yad," Ishut, 23:14). Elijah b. Shemaiah is especially known as a composer of hymns. Besides a "reshut" to Johanan's "Ḳerobot" for Yom Kippur, Elijah composed a great number of seliḥot. Zunz ("Literaturgesch." pp. 244-246) enumerates no less than thirty-six, arranged either in the alphabetical or in the reversed alphabetical order, and giving the acrostic of his name.

Bibliography:
  • Zunz, Literaturgesch. pp. 139, 244-246;
  • idem, G. V. p. 393;
  • idem, S. P. p. 206;
  • Michael, Or ha-Ḥayyim, No. 412;
  • Landshuth, 'Ammude, ha-'Abodah, p. 17.
K.
M. Sel.
Bibliography Information
Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Elijah ben Shemaiah'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​tje/​e/elijah-ben-shemaiah.html. 1901.
 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile