Elijah ben Judah of Paris
ELIJAH BEN JUDAH OF PARIS
ELIJAH BEN JUDAH OF PARIS (first half of the 12th century), French talmudist, commentator, and halakhist. Elijah is quoted in the tosafot and in the works of *Eliezer b. Nathan of Mainz, *Eliezer b. Joel ha-Levi of Bonn, *Moses of Coucy, *Mordecai b. Hillel, *Meir b. Baruch of Rothenburg, and others. He was considered one of the leading scholars of his time, together with R. *Tam and *Meshullam b. Nathan of Melun, who held him in great esteem. Eliezer b. Nathan of Mainz directed his question on Ḥezkat ha-Ḥallonot to these three scholars (Raban, 153:3); and questions were also addressed to Elijah by Isaac b. Samuel ha-Zaken (Tos. to Ket. 54b). *Moses b. Abraham of Pontoise, in a responsum to R. Tam (Sefer ha-Yashar, Resp. 51), refers to Elijah as "our teacher and our light." The Jews of Paris followed his customs, even in opposition to the views of R. Tam. His ruling (Tos. to Eruv. 97a) that the tefillin knot must be tied every day is well-known. Zunz attributes to Elijah a number of liturgical poems.
bibliography:
Zunz, Gesch, 458; Gross, Gal Jud, 515f., no. 9; Michael, Or, no. 381; V. Aptowitzer, Mavo le-Sefer Ravyah (1938), 310–1; Urbach, Tosafot, index.