Even haEzer is a collection of responsa, found in two sections at the beginning and end of the work, and legal decisions, arranged in the middle as a commentary to the
Babylonian Talmud. This book, which Eliezer compiled from smaller topical pamphlets, was also known as ''Tzaf'nat Paneah
in the medieval period and continues to be called Sefer Ra'avan
. Eliezer introduces the work as follows:I called this book Even haEzer'' (
1Sam 7:12; lit. "stone of the help") because
my Rock helped me to uncover the purposes of our ancient practices, and the deep secrets of both our monetary and our ritual law, and the legal books of
Moed,
Nezikin, and
Nashim, which future generations will need to understand.Eliezer proves himself conscientious and careful in his decisions, and in his reverence for tradition he is inclined to accept extremely rigid interpretations of the Law. He interprets the Biblical injunction "Forsake not the teaching of thy mother," as meaning, "What the older rabbis have prohibited we must not permit" (No. 10). The chapters on civil law contain many an interesting document, and also a statement of commercial relations occasioned by various trials. They contain precise statements of the prices of goods and accurate information concerning commercial usages in the
Rhineland and in distant
Slavic countries; e.g., concerning the golden trade routes in
Strasburg and
Speyer (fol. 145b); the coinage of the time; and the export trade with
Galicia and southern
Russia (No. 5). Slavic customs and character are also discussed in connection with ritual matters. Among the decisions are some containing interpretations of
Biblical and
Talmudic sayings; one of them (No. 119) even presenting a connected commentary on
Proverbs 30:1-6, in which
Saadia Gaon's view is cited—namely, that Isthiel and Ucal were the names of two men who addressed philosophical questions to
Agur ben Jakeh. The work mentions the year 1152, and must therefore have been completed after that date. The year 1247, which occurs in the Prague edition, was the insertion of a later copyist. In the subsequent centuries Eliezer came to be regarded as a great authority, but his work was little known. Not until its importance had been specially urged by the most influential rabbis of Poland—
Mordecai Jafe,
Samuel Eliezer Edels (Maharsha),
Solomon Ephraim Luntschitz, among others, in a formal appeal issued from
Posen in 1609—was its publication undertaken. The book survives completely in only one manuscript (MS HAB Guelf. 5.7). == As liturgical poet ==