Creator Bio
Elijah ha-Kohen ha-Itmari
ca. 1650–1729
An influential preacher sensitive to social injustice and prolific rabbinic author with strong kabbalistic leanings, Elijah was scion of a rabbinic family in Izmir (Smyrna), in western Anatolia. His Hebrew ethical work Shevet musar (Staff of Teaching) appeared in more than fifty editions and was translated into Ladino and Yiddish. In its advice regarding marital relations, as in other areas, the book both reveals realia of everyday Jewish life in a late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Ottoman city and reflects the gender sensibilities of its time.
Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator
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Ve-lo ‘od ela’ (Moreover): On the Earthquake in Smyrna
Now since the episode of the earthquake has already been mentioned, in order that all those who come after us should be aware of it, I shall place on record what occurred in relation to the earthquake…
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Me‘il tsedakah (Robe of Righteousness)
Regarding that which is written: a man’s gift [makes room for him] (Proverbs 18:16), this means that the gift itself, which one personally gives to the poor, will make room for him. When you provide…
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Shevet musar (Rod of Correction): Instructions for a Wife
These are the conditions for a proper wife so that she will be cherished by her husband, so that he will not come to set his…
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Yado ba-kol (His Hand Against Every Man)
A song I engraved on the tombstone (matzevet) of my master, my father, may he be remembered for the life of the world to come. The holy seed shall be its stock (matzavtah; Isaiah 6:13), is it not the…
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Shevet musar (Rod of Correction): On Contemplating Death
The enlightened will awaken, and he who understands will rise up to waken his soul, which will speak to his body; and his body will speak with his evil inclination.
And thus, the soul will…