Al-Baẓak, Maẓli'aḥ ben Elijah Ibn
AL-BAẒAK, MAẒLI'AḤ BEN ELIJAH IBN
AL-BAẒAK, MAẒLI'AḤ BEN ELIJAH IBN (11th century), dayyan in Sicily. Maẓli'aḥ was a pupil of *Hai Gaon in Pumbedita and later he apparently migrated to Sicily where he was appointed dayyan.*Nathan b. Jehiel, author of the Arukh, was his pupil and it is quite likely that the explanations of Arabic and Persian terms appearing in Nathan's work were derived from his teacher. Maẓli'aḥ wrote a letter in Arabic to Samuel ha-Nagid, concerning Hai Gaon, of which fragments only are extant. One fragment has a commentary by Hai Gaon to Psalms 103:5, and in another it is stated that Hai Gaon, with a view to seeking a correct interpretation of Psalms 141:5, sent Maẓli'aḥ to the Nestorian patriarch, who showed him the Syriac version. On a journey to Europe – or on some other occasion – Maẓli'aḥ stopped over in Ereẓ Israel, when he acted as a judge in a civil dispute in Ramleh.
bibliography:
Steinschneider, Arab Lit, 132; idem, Gesammelte Schriften, 1 (1925), 67, n. 87; Mann, in: jqr, 9 (1918/19), 151; Vogelstein-Rieger, 1 (1896), 358; Neubauer, in: Israelitische Letterbode, 2 (1876–77), 177; Lewin, in: Ginzei Kedem, 3 (1925), 67–68; Assaf, in: ks, 2 (1925/26), 184; Krauss, in: hhy, 11 (1927), 204–5.
[Umberto (Moses David) Cassuto]