[Heb-NACO] Yosef Shalom Elyashiv

[Barry Walfish]

Dear Safranim,

I was astonished to learn recently that LC has established the name of the venerable sage and erstwhile leader of Haredi Jewry as Elyashuv, apparently based on the Romanized form found in a single book published in 1992. This is patently absurd. I assure you this is the only place that his name is spelled that way. An internet search confirms that he is was and always will be Elyashiv.

Can someone at LC please fix this? Thanks. The Haredi world will be grateful.

This sheds a spotlight on the questionable practice LC has adopted of establishing names of religious persons on the basis of the romanized forms in publications that were not published by them. This is especially questionable for medieval rabbis. it makes no sense to use a romanized form that appears in an Italian or Spanish or German publication for a medieval rabbi. One case I recently encountered is

Zidkiyahu figlio di Abraham, ha-Rofè, 13th cent. In the EJ he is: Anav, Zedekiah ben Abraham; 13th cent.

This policy should be reconsidered and reference sources preferred in such cases.

Barry


Barry Dov Walfish, Ph.D.
Judaica Specialist
University of Toronto Libraries 
Toronto, ON M5S 1A5
Canada