Ben Eliezer Tobiah
Ben Eliezer Tobiah [1]
a Jewish writer, who flourished at Mayence, A.D. 1107, is the author of a commentary on the Pentateuch and the five Megilloth, i.e. the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. This commentary, the proper title of which is Lekach Tob ( לקח טוב ) in allusion to his name, as is evident from the quotations made by Aben-Ezra and Rashbam, but which is erroneously called פסקתא or פסקתא זוטרתא , consists both of excerpts from the ancient expository works, such as Siphsra, Siphre, Tanchuma, etc., and of an attempt at a grammatical explanation of the text. A portion of it, embracing the commentaries on Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, was first published at Venice in 1546. With a Latin translationit was republished in Ugolino's Thesaurus Antiuita Tum Sacsarum (ibid. 1764-69), vol. 15:16. Excerpts of the commentaries on the five Megilloth were published by A. Jellinek (Leips. 1855-58). The whole MS. is in the Bodleian Library at Oxford (Cod. Uri 124). See First, Bibl. Jud. 3, 427;. Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden, 6:159; Kitto, Cycop. s.v.; Etheridge, Introd. to Heb. Literature, p. 233, 406; De'Rossi, Dizionario Storico (German transl.), p. 314; Zunz, Gottesd. Vortrage, p. 293-295. (B. P.)
