Hezekiah Ben Manoah

French exegete of the thirteenth century. In memory of his father, who lost his right hand through his stead-fastness in the faith, Hezekiah wrote (about 1240) a cabalistic commentary on the Pentateuch, under the title "Ḥazzeḳuni." It was printed at Venice in 1524. Other editions appeared at Cremona (1559), at Amsterdam (1724, in the Rabbinical Bible of M. Frankfurter), at Lemberg (1859), etc. It is based principally upon Rashi, but it uses also about twenty other commentaries, though the author quotes as his sources only Rashi, Dunash ben Labraṭ, the "Yosippon," and a "Physica" which is mentioned in the Tosafot (to Lev. xii. 2). He is generally cited by the title of his commentary.

Bibliography:

  * Fürst, Bibl. Jud. i. 171;
  * Zunz, Z. G. p. 91;
  * Steinschneider, Cat. Badl. p. 844;
  * Catalogus Monacensis, p. 79;
  * Benjacob, Oẓar ha-Sefarim, p. 173;
  * Winter and Wünsche, Die Jüd. Litteratur, ii. 332;
  * Renan, in L'Histoire Littéraire de la France, xxvii. 436.



E. C. M. Sc.