Commentary: On the Jerusalem Talmud

Little is known about Elijah Fulda, the first Ashkenazic scholar to write a commentary on the Palestinian Talmud. Elijah, who was born and died in Wiznica, Poland, spent time in Fulda, Germany. Scholars suggest that he traveled to Germany and Amsterdam to print his works; some claim that he served as rabbi of Fulda, although there is no written evidence of this. Based on the approbation for his commentary by David Oppenheim of Prague (1709), we know that Elijah had studied with Oppenheim twenty years previously (ca. 1689/90). Elijah’s commentary on the Palestinian Talmud constituted a turning point in the attitude toward this text—which had previously been overlooked by Ashkenazic scholars—and marked the beginning of its methodical study in Eastern Europe. Elijah’s detailed commentaries and novellae on the Order of Zera‘im (Seeds), and the tractates of Shekalim, Bava Kamma, Bava Meẓi‘a, and Bava Batra (and perhaps others, although only these have survived) influenced his contemporaries, as well as future generations of scholars. Among the major rabbinic figures who wrote approbations for his commentaries (in addition to Oppenheim) were notable rabbis from Amsterdam, including ḥakham Zevi and Solomon Ayalon.