פירוש על ברכות 13:4

"The Holy of Holies" added by M. According to the Jewish sources, he was one of the last of the High Priests and suffered martyrdom (see fol. 57 b) with Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel the Elder. He is accordingly identified by some with Ishmael b. Phabi who held the Office about 60 c.e. This identification, however, is very uncertain, and there are scholars who doubt whether there was a High Priest of that name. They think that the person referred to here is the Tanna Ishmael, who was the son of a High Priest, and that the theosophical passages where he is mentioned (see fol. 51 a) are later legendary additions to the Talmud. See A. T. i. pp. 259-263.

A divine appellation usually explained as a combination of keter "throne" and el "God." Schorr (quoted by Goldschmidt) connects it with ὀχθρὁϛ, Heb. עליון "Most High."

See p. 8 n. 5.

Since God asked for the blessing of a mortal. An instance of the doctrine of Imitatio Dei; see Introduction, § IV.