Tobiah, Ben Eliezer

Tobiah, Ben Eliezer 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.)