Ahimaaz ben Paltiel

), Ahimaaz ben Paltiel is mentioned as the author of two poems, and a Mahzor of the Roman rite attributes to him a selihah for the Fast of Esther.

Written about one hundred years before Abraham ibn Daud, it covers a period (850–1054) about which little is known; the only information hitherto having been obtained from a few inscriptions and from notices in the works of Shabbetai Donolo, who also was a native of Oria.

The first person he mentions is Amittai of Oria, whom he calls sabbar and payyat, a man versed in Talmudic halakha and a writer of liturgical poetry.

The Chronicle describes Aaron of Babylon, the reputed teacher of Kalonymus of Lucca; also through an account by Rabbi Silano additional information is gleaned about the Jewish community of Venosa, some epitaphs from which place had previously been published by G. J. Ascoli.

The author is obviously proud of the honor done to his family by one of its members, Paltiel, the vizier of al-Muizz and Abd al-Mansur (962–992) of Egypt; perhaps the first of the Egyptian nagids, whom De Goeje has tried to identify with Jauhar al-Rumi or al-Saqlabi.

It narrates the exploits of Aaron, who is able to lock up an evil spirit in a chest by means of the Shem (ineffable name of God); how his pupil Shephatiah is able miraculously to cover a great distance in a very short time so as to avoid profaning the Sabbath day; how Shephatiah is able to save the life of a child that two female demons had determined to put to death; how Hananiel is able to bring his cousin to life again; how heaven directly helps the same Hananiel; and how the moon remains obscured for a whole night in order to cover up an error made in an astronomical calculation.

In order that the book should not fall into the hands of those that were unworthy to use it, it was put into a case of lead and thrown to the waves, which receded perceptibly and carried away the mysterious gift.

But the naïveté with which the story is told shows that there is no attempt at historical reconstruction; and one can feel certain that the basis upon which Ahimaaz's work rests is reliable family tradition.

In its formation of new nouns and verbs, in its biliteral roots, its peculiar plural endings, and in its use of the construct state, it recalls the style of Donolo and of the liturgical poets of the school of Eleazar Kalir.