Commentators:R. Moshe Yitzchak Ashkenazi (Hoil Moshe)/0

R. Moshe Yitzchak Ashkenazi (Hoil Moshe)

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Hoil Moshe

Name	R. Moshe Yitzchak Ashkenazi / Tedeschi, Hoil Moshe ר' משה יצחק אשכנזי / טדסקי, הואיל משה
Dates	1821-1898
Location	Italy
Works	Commentaries on all 24 books of Tanakh (links), מוסר המלכים‎, שמחת הרגל
Exegetical Characteristics
Influenced by	Shadal
Impacted on

Background

Life

• Name –
  • Hebrew name – R. Moshe Yitzchak Ashkenazi (ר' משה יצחק אשכנזי)
  • Italian name – Moisè Tedeschi¹
• Dates – June 6, 1821² – June 17, 1898
• Location – Trieste, Italy
• Occupation – R. Moshe Ashkenazi worked as a teacher at the local Talmud Torah.
• Family – For a full overview of the Hoil Moshe's family, see his autobiography, in שמחת הרגל, pp. 51-53.
• Teachers – R. Shemuel Chayyim Zalman,³ Shadal
• Contemporaries –
• Students –
• Notable events

Works

• Biblical commentaries – Commentaries on all 24 books of Tanakh [Links: Torah and Neviim Rishonim, Yeshayahu, Yirmeyahu, and Yechezkel, Yirmeyahu 47-52, Yechezkel 30-48, Daniel, Ezra, and Divrei HaYamim, Terei Asar – Introduction⁴ and Commentary, Tehillim, Mishlei and Five Megillot, Iyyov]
• Jewish thought – Mussar Melakhim (written 1873, published 1878),⁵ Simchat HaRegel (written 1886, published 1891),⁶ Hebrew translation of Ruach Yisrael by Mordechai Mortara (1894)
• Hebrew Language – Italian translation of Zekher Rav by Binyamin Musaphia (1878),⁷ Otzar Nirdefei Lashon Ivri (1879),⁸

Torah Commentary

Characteristics

• Topical – Hoil Moshe comments on about a sixth of the verses in the Torah.⁹ His commentary is selective in what it addresses, and is not a verse by verse commentary.¹⁰
• Genre –

Methods

• –

Themes

• –

Textual Issues

The one and only edition of the Hoil Moshe was published by R. Moshe Ashkenazi himself, and can therefore be considered authoritative.

Sources

Significant Influences

• Earlier Sources –
• Teachers – Shadal¹¹
• Foils –

Occasional Usage

Possible Relationship

Impact

Later exegetes

Supercommentaries

¹ Tedeschi is Italian for "German".

² See his autobiography, in שמחת הרגל, p. 52.

³ See Hoil Moshe's autobiography, in שמחת הרגל, p. 54.

⁴ The introduction to Trei Asar was published in HeAsif 3 (1887): 221-230.

⁵ A collection of mussar ideas.

⁶ A collection of sermons on the holidays, together with comments on the Targum of Mishlei and an autobiography.

⁷ A pedagogical poem intended to teach Hebrew vocabulary.

⁸ A Hebrew thesaurus.

⁹ There are approximately 5845 verses in the Torah (see Number of Verses in Torah for a fuller discussion of this subject): 1534 in Bereshit, 1209 in Shemot, 859 in Vayikra, 1288 in Bemidbar, and 955 in Devarim. Hoil Moshe comments on approximately 1072 units: 232 in Bereshit, 203 in Shemot, 149 in Vayikra, 239 in Bemidbar, 249 in Devarim. Note that Hoil Moshe comments much more often in Devarim (where he comments on over a quarter of the verses) then in any of the other books. [A more precise analysis needs to take into account factors such as genealogical lists or repeated sections.]

¹⁰ Cf. Rashi, Ibn Ezra, and Radak. Partially for this reason, Hoil Moshe's comments tend to be much longer than those commentators, as he will frequently examine issues of broader scope. For a more detailed comparison table of the various exegetes, see Commentary Comparison.

¹¹ In his autobiography, שמחת הרגל, pp. 56-57, the Hoil Moshe writes that he spent a week every year in Shadal's house in Padua, and that he corresponded with him regularly.