ISRAEL BEN JEHIEL ASHKENAZI:
Italian rabbi; lived at the end of the fifteenth and in the early part of the sixteenth century. He was corrector of the edition of the Talmud published in Pesaro 1511-13; and in 1518 he approved the first edition of Elijah Levita's "Ha-Baḥur" in Rome. Israel belonged to the board of Roman rabbis, and, it seems, excelled his two colleagues in Talmudical knowledge. Israel was highly respected in Rome, and in 1519 gave a decision on a legal question concerning Donina, the daughter of Samuel Ẓarfati. This decision still exists in manuscript ("Il Mose," v. 191, No. 40; 193, Nos. 102, 119). At an advanced age he emigrated to Palestine.
Bibliography:
- Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, ii. 78, 84, 93, 115.
