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 – 
• Time period – 
  • –
• World outlook – 

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. The autograph manuscript of the Torah commentary which was written in 1964 was recently owned by Michael Krupp, but was then sold,¹¹ and we have not been able to discover its whereabouts.

Sources

Significant Influences

• Earlier Sources – 
• Teachers – Shadal¹²
• Foils – 

Occasional Usage

• –

Possible Relationship

• –

Impact

Later exegetes

• –

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.  He is cited as "מורי שחז"ל" in several places in Hoil Moshe's commentaries.

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 Personal communication from Michael Krupp (November 12, 2020).

¹² 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.