Ma’asei Hashem [commentry to the Six Days of Creation, Chapters of the Fathers, the Passover Hagadah (with text) and various Biblical portions]

ASCHKENAZI, ELIEZER BEN ELIJAH HA’ROPHÉ

Giovanni di Gara

Venice

1583

FIRST EDITION. Title within woodcut architectural arch.

Vinograd, Venice 661; Habermann, di Gara 61; not in Adams

As a biblical exegete, Aschkenazi follows the rationalist trend in rabbinical scholarship. He suggests that irrational elements in Jewish tradition had occurred due to copyists’ errors, misunderstandings and misreadings, or had been precipitated in times of trouble and expulsions, or even inserted by adversaries. Aschkenazi’s commentary on the Hagadah annotates in an aggadic vein alongside a mystical explication. x-ref HAG.