26th Sivan - Rabbi Yonatan ben Uzziel

According to my calendar:

Some say that today is the yahrzeit of the Tanna, Rabbi Yonatan ben Uzziel, and that he is buried in Amukah. But I do not know the source of this.

Clearly this is a GOOD THING for the various charity organisations, because they can take your money in exchange for praying for you at Amukah on this very auspicious day.
For example Kupat Ha-Ir

Vaad HaRabonim have a similar campaign - though I can't find it on the internet (which is good, since they hold that the internet is forbidden).

And I have heard from many people and sems of the importance of going to Amukah to find a shidduch.

So it is quite interesting to find the real story: On p. 688 of 'Making of a Godol' Rav Noson Kaminetsky explains the source of this belief, and the reason for the 'minhag' to travel to Amukah to find a shidduch:

Another case of superstition came to this author's attention through a review of the book 'Ohr HaGalil' in the HaTzofeh newspaper. The reviewer, R' Meir Wunder, made a study and discovered that belief in the powers of prayer at the site of the grave of the Tanna Yonathan ben 'Uziel in 'Amuqah was nonexistent until a tour company in Jerusalem concocted the "tradition" circa 5713 (1953). R' Meir filled this author in on the background of his investigation: a spinster acquaintance took a private taxi with an unknown driver for the long and lonely drive through the hills and
forests of the Galilee to visit the grave, a site where prayers for finding a mate were said to be especially effective d. The single woman who spurred the reviewer's research put herself in jeopardy to get to 'Amuqah and obviously had a superstitious faith in what she was doing to the extent that she felt protected by a magic net of security during the dangerous (and probably halakhically forbidden) ride with the stranger. The trip to the Galilee brought her no tragedy, but neither joy.

In a footnote there he also shows how the media has avoided correcting this 'mistaken minhag':

R' Wunder had also sent a letter with the gist of his discovery to the editor of the newspaper. But on the advice of a renowned Torah scholar, that newspaper edited it to avoid casting any aspersion on the "tradition". Not that the Torah scholar approved of doing unsafe things to get to 'Amuqah, but he did not want to invalidate altogether the notion of traveling there, saying, "Let it be: if they believe in it, let us not discourage them." It seems to this author that the scholar had compassion for the unfortunates who find solace in their superstitions - see
fn. w - on p. 680. He is believed to be R' Shlomo-Zalman Auerbach.

It is also interesting to see each year that there are more and more yahrzeits commemorated with special bus services, and Rabbis offering to say special prayers on the day. Whoever thought of this tourism idea should really deserve a prize!

Yaakov Bei Rav and Semicha

Today, 1st Iyar, is the yarzheit of a very interesting person in Jewish history. Rav Yaakov Bei Rav passed away on this day in 1546. His main contribution to history was that in 1538 R' Yaakov Bei Rav reintroduced semicha in Eretz Yisrael for the first time in several hundred years.

The background to the story is as follows: When Moshe passed on the mantle of leadership to Yehoshua, he placed his hand on his head. The Torah says (Bamidbar 27:18-21)

And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is spirit, and lay thy hand upon him
and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight.
And thou shalt put of thy honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may hearken.
And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the LORD; at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.'

Since that time Rabbinic leaders were inducted by someone who already had semicha from the previous generation, with the approval of the Nassi (political leader). In addition, this semicha could only be given and received in Eretz Yisrael. For this reason the Babylonian Amoraim in the Talmud are never called 'Rabbi' but always 'Rav' (or sometimes simply by their name - for example Shmuel).

Only someone with semicha was permitted to rule on cases of fines (knasot) and some other kinds of rulings. In addition, the Sanhedrin (both the main Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, and the smaller Sanhedrins in each town) could only convene if at least one of their number had semicha.

When the Romans took control of Israel they banned semicha and threatened to kill anyone giving or receiving semicha. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 14a) records how Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava gave up his life in order to give semicha to five of his students, who became the leaders and decisors of Judaism - Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Shimon, Rabbi Yehudah (ben Ila’i), Rabbi Yosi and Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua.

Despite this sometime in the 4th or 5th century the Romans succeded in banning semicha and dismantled the Sanhedrin. This was probably because the greatest Rabbis, the ones who would have been worthy of receiving semicha, were no longer residing in Israel. The centres of Torah had moved to Bavel.

Since that time there has been no semicha (what is today called semicha is named that in memory of the authentic semicha which was traced back to Moshe).

However, Rambam writes in two places that if all the Rabbis of Israel would agree, they could jointly give semicha to someone, and restart the process. He writes in his commentary on the Mishna (Sanhedrin 1:1) and Mishne Torah (Hilchot Sanhedrin 4:11):

נראין לי הדברים, שאם הסכימו כל החכמים שבארץ ישראל למנות דיינין ולסמוך אותן--הרי אלו סמוכין, ויש להן לדון דיני קנסות, ויש להן לסמוך לאחרים. אם כן, למה היו החכמים מצטערין על הסמיכה, כדי שלא ייבטלו דיני קנסות מישראל: לפי שישראל מפוזרין, ואי אפשר שיסכימו כולן; ואם היה שם סמוך מפי סמוך, אינו צריך דעת כולן, אלא דן דיני קנסות לכול, שהרי נסמך מפי בית דין. והדבר צריך הכרע.

It appears to me [Maimonides] that if all the sages of the Land of Israel consent to appoint dayanim (judges) and grant them semichah (ordination), they have the law of musmachim and they can judge penalty cases and are authorized to grant semichah to others [thus restoring Biblical ordination].
If so, why did the sages bemoan [the loss of] semichah? So that the judgment of penalty cases wouldn't disappear from among Israel because Jews are so spread out that it's not possible to get their consent [to authorize a dayan]. If someone were to receive semichah from someone who already has semichah, then he does not require their consent – he may judge penalty cases for everyone since he received semichah from beis din (rabbinical court). However, this matter requires a final decision.

(Translation from wikipedia's website)

(Paranthetically - I just found that you can download two sedarim of Rambam's commentary on Mishna IN HIS OWN HANDWRITING from this website. WOW!)

Based on this view of Rambam, R' Yaakov Bei Rav tried to reinstate semicha in Tzfat in 1538 by getting the agreement of all the Rabbis of Israel.

It is getting late, so I'll just copy and paste what wikipedia has to say on the matter:

In 1538 Rabbi Jacob Berab of Safed, Land of Israel, attempted to restore the traditional form of Semikhah. His goal was to unify the scattered Jewish communities through the re-establishment of the Sanhedrin. At his prompting, 25 rabbis from the land of Israel convened; they ordained Jacob Berab as their "Chief rabbi". Berab then conferred semikhah through a laying on of hands to four rabbis, including Joseph Caro, who was later to become the author of the Shulchan Aruch, widely viewed as the most important code of Jewish law from the 17th century onwards. Joseph Caro in turn ordained Rabbi Moshe Alshich, who in turn ordained Rabbi Hayyim Vital.
Berab made an error in not first obtaining the approval of the chief rabbis in Jerusalem, which led to an objection to having a Sanhedrin at that time. One should note that this was not an objection to the semikhah, but to reinstituting a Sanhedrin. Levi ibn Habib, the chief rabbi in Jerusalem, wrote that when the nascent Sanhedrin took the authority of a Sanhedrin upon itself, it had to fix the calendar immediately. However, by delaying in this matter, it invalidated itself. Rabbi David ibn abi Zimra (Radvaz) of Egypt was consulted, but when Berab died in 1542 the renewed form of semikhah gradually ground to a halt.

If you have spare time over Shabbat and want to read the dialogue between R' Yaakov Bei Rav and R' Levi Ibn Chaviv (who was the father of the author of Ein Yaakov) it is recorded in the Responsa of R' Levi Ibn Chaviv. It is quite a lengthy discussion of the subject (just under 50 pages) and I have not yet gone through most of it. (actually I just found another wikipedia page which summarizes the main arguments)

I wonder whether semicha gave the Shulchan Aruch more authority, and gave R' Yosef Karo the ability to complete such a task. I also wonder what could have happened if politics and machlokes had not got in the way of halacha.

The final question is what, if any, implications this event in history has for the Sanhedrin of today.

One very final note - I visited the Mossad HaRav book sale this week (as I do every year - though this year for the first time ever I didn't actually purchase anything). You may be familiar with the building on the corner at the entrance to Jerusalem. I seem to remember once being told that when the State was established, Rav Yehuda Leib Maimon tried to create a Sanhedrin, and this semi-circular building was originally intended to house that Sanhedrin (since the Old City was not under Jewish control at the time. And the Sanhedrin sits in the shape of a semi-circle).

3rd Adar Yarzheit of the Aderes

On Shabbos it was the Yarzheit of the Aderes, Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz Teomim (his initials spell Aderes). I wanted to copy and paste the wikipedia article on him to my blog, but there wasn't an article on him. So I wrote it (mostly lifted from www.jewishencyclopedia.com). He is one of the few Rabbis who wrote an autobiography (which is out of print now, and I can't even remember what it is called) so I was amazed at how little information there was about him. He was the father in law of Rav Kook, so I would have expected there to be a lot more information about him.

Please add any more biographical information you may have on him both the wikipedia article and to the comments of this blog.

Thank you and Shavua Tov.

Here is the wikipedia article:

Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz Teomim (1845-1905) was known by his initials as the Aderes (Aderet). He was one of the greatest European Rabbis of the nineteenth century. He is also famous as the father-in-law of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook

Biography

Russian rabbi; born at Pikeln, government of Kovno, June 11 (6th Sivan), 1845. He studied Talmud and rabbinics under his father (who was rabbi successively at Shilel, Rogova, and Vilkomir), and at the age of fifteen had acquired a substantial knowledge of Talmudic and rabbinical literature. In 1873 he was invited to the rabbinate of Panevėžys, in the government of Kovno. After twenty years in that rabbinate he was appointed rabbi of Mir, government of Minsk. In 1901 he was made assistant to Samuel Salant (chief rabbi of the Ashkenazic communities at Jerusalem), whose age precluded his continuing to discharge unassisted the full duties of the rabbinate.

He passed away on 3rd Adar 1905.

Writings

Rabinowitz wrote more than 120 books including novellæ on Maimonides' "Yad" (Vilna, 1900), and published also novellæ and glosses on all branches of Talmudic literature in "Ha-Tebunah," "Kebod ha-Lebanon," "Ha-Ẓofeh," "Ha-Maggid," "Keneset Ḥakme Yisrael," "'Iṭṭur Soferim," and "Keneset ha-Gedolah." Many of his novellæ and notes are printed in works to which he gave his approbation.

Mei Shiloach - Yarzheit 7th Tevet

Today (8th Tevet) is the beginning of the three days of darkness. Look at my torahlab.org blog (the story so far) for more details.

Yesterday was the yarzheit of the Izhbitzer Rebbe, R' Mordechai Yosef Leiner. He was a Chasidic Rebbe and a radical thinker, taking the classical views of Chasidut (based on the Baal HaTanya) to extremes. He basically held that the world did not exist, and therefore there was no evil in the world, no suffering and no free choice.

Although he only wrote one book, his two students, his son, the Beis Yaakov, and his protege, R' Tzadok of Lublin, took his ideas and elaborated on them.

Here is the wikipedia entry on the Izbicer (Ishbitzer?)

Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica (Yiddish: איזשביצא, איזביצא Izhbitse, Izbitse) (1804-1854) was a Hasidic thinker and founder of the Izhbitzer dyansty of Hasidic Judaism. A student of the Rebbe Reb Simcha Bunim of Peshischa (Polish: Przysucha and Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (Polish: Kock). He originally settled in Tomashov (Polish: Tomaszów), then moved with his teacher to Kock and then in 1839 moved to Izbica. His leading disciple was Rabbi Yehuda Leib Eiger (1816-1888), grandson of Rabbi Akiva Eiger. His students included Rabbi Zadok HaKohen of Lublin (1823-1900), his son, Rabbi Yaacov Leiner (1828-1878) and Rabbi Gershon Henoch of Radzyn, his grandson.

Thought

Rabbi Leiner is best known for a doctrine of radical determinism: all events, including human actions, are absolutely under God's control, or as Rabbinic discourse would phrase it, by "hasgachah pratit." His second most famous idea is that if everything is determined by God, then even sin is done because God determines it. He presents defenses of various Biblical sinners, such as Korach, Pinchas, and Judah (in the incident with Tamar).

One of his most cited comments is on Leviticus 21:1 None shall defile himself for any [dead] person among his kin. Rabbi Leiner read the verse as a warning against the defilement of the soul. The soul is defiled when it is infected with the bitterness and rage that comes with senseless suffering and tragedy. Those who — like the Kohanim— would serve God, are commanded to find the resources to resist the defilements of despair and darkness. Despair is the ultimate denial of God, and surrender to darkness is the ultimate blasphemy.

Alan Brill of Yeshiva University has suggested that the teachings of Rabbi Jonathan Eybeschutz may have influenced Rabbi Leiner's thinking.

Relationship with the Kotzker Rebbe

Rabbi Leiner was the right-hand man of the Kotzker rebbe, by whom he was charged with overseeing the chasidim. In 1839 Leiner had a public and dramatic falling out with the Kotzker Rebbe. On the day after Simchat Torah of that year, Leiner left Kotzk with many of his followers to form his own hasidic circle.

The reasons given for the break are varied.

Influence

His thought influenced the mussar of Rabbi Isaac Hutner and Rabbi Moshe Wolfson.

Leiner's thought continues to have influence in the twentieth century, especially on Neo-Hasidism, and the teachings of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach is credited with the recent popularization of Rabbi Leiner's teachings. He apparently came across Rabbi Leiner's work in an old Jewish book store. He is quoted as saying that after initially being perplexed as to the peculiar nature of the teachings he quickly realized that in it lay the "secret for turning Jews onto the deeper meanings of Judaism".

Works

Mei Hashiloach 2 volumes

Living Waters : The Mei HaShiloach translated by Betsalel Philip Edwards

May His Soul be Bound in the Bonds of Eternal Life

Rebbi's Yahrzeit

Yesterday, Sunday 25th November 2007 - 15th Kislev 5768 was the Yarzheit of Rebbi Yehuda HaNassi, the Tanna and compiler of the Mishna. The Talmud at the end of Sotah tells us that:

WHEN RABBI DIED, HUMILITY AND FEAR OF SIN CEASED. R. Yosef said to the Tanna, [when reciting this Mishnah] do not include the word 'humility', because there is I. R. Nahman said to the teacher, Do not include 'fear of sin', because there is I.

(Whatever that last line means).

The Talmud near the end of Ketubot (p. 103b-104a) describes the end of Rebbi's life, and his instructions to his children and students:

Our Rabbis taught: When Rabbi was about to depart [from this life] he said, 'I require [the presence] of my sons'. When his sons entered into his presence he instructed them: 'Take care that you show due respect to your mother. The light shall continue to burn in its usual place, the table shall be laid in its usual place [and my] bed shall be spread in its usual place. Yosef of Haifa and Shimon of Efrat who attended on me in my lifetime shall attend on me when I am dead'.
'Take care that you show due respect to your mother'. Is [not this instruction] from the Torah, since it is written, “Honour your father and your mother?” — She was their stepmother. [Is not the commandment to honour] a stepmother also from the Torah, for it was taught: “Honour your father and your mother,” “your father” includes your stepmother,”and your mother” includes your Stepfather, and the superfluous vav includes your elder brother? — This exposition [was meant to apply] during [one's own parents'] lifetime but not after [their] death.
'The light shall continue to burn in its usual place, the table shall be laid in its usual place [and my] bed shall be spread in its usual place'. What is the reason? — He used to come home again at twilight every Sabbath Eve. On a certain Erev Shabbos a neighbour came to the door speaking aloud, when his handmaid whispered, 'Be quiet for Rebbi is sitting there'. As soon as he heard this he came no more, in order that no bad reflection might be cast on the earlier tzadikim.
'Yosef of Haifa and Shimon of Efrat who attended on me in my lifetime shall attend on me when I am dead'. He was understood to mean, 'In this world'. When it was seen however, that their biers preceded his (i.e. they died before Rebbi) [all] said that the conclusion must be that he was referring to the other world, and that the reason why he mentioned it was that it might not be suspected that they were guilty of some offence and that it was only the merit of Rebbi that protected them until that moment.
'I require', he said to them, '[the presence] of the Sages of Israel', and the Sages of Israel entered into his presence. 'Do not eulogise me', he said to them, 'in the smaller towns, and reassemble the yeshiva after thirty days. My son Shimon is wise, my son Gamliel shall be Nasi and Chanina ben Chama shall preside [at the yeshiva].
'Do not eulogise me in the smaller towns'. He was understood to give this instruction in order [to cause less] trouble. As it was observed, however, that when eulogies were held in the large towns everybody came, they came to the conclusion that his instruction was due to [a desire to enhance] the honour [of the people].
'Reassemble the yeshiva after thirty days', because [he thought] 'I am not more important than our teacher Moses concerning whom it is Written in Scripture, And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moav thirty days'.
For thirty days they mourned both day and night; subsequently they mourned in the day-time and studied at night or mourned at night and studied during the day, until a period of twelve months of mourning [had passed].
On the day that Rebbi died a bas kol went forth and announced: Whoever was present at the death of Rebbi is destined to enjoy the life of the world to come. A certain tailor, who used to come to him every day, failed to call on that day; and, as soon as he heard this, went up upon a roof, fell down to the ground and died. A bas kol came forth and announced: That fuller also is destined to enjoy the life of the world to come.
'My son Shimon is wise’. What did he mean? — It is this that he meant: Although my son Shimon is wise, my son Gamliel shall be the Nasi. Said Levi, 'Was It necessary to state this?' — It was necessary', replied R. Shimon ben Rebbi, 'for yourself and for your lameness'. What was his difficulty? Does not Scripture state, But the kingdom gave he to Yehoram, because he was the firstborn? — The other was properly representing his ancestors but R. Gamliel was not properly representing his ancestors. Then why did Rebbi act in the manner he did? — Granted that he was not representing his ancestors In wisdom he was worthily representing them in his fear of sin.
'Chanina ben Chama shall preside at the college'. R. Chanina, however, did not accept [the office] because R. Afes was by two and a half years older than he; and so R. Afes presided. R. Chanina sat [at his studies] outside [the lecture room], and Levi came and joined him. When R. Afes went to his eternal rest and R. Chanina took up the presidency Levi had no one to join him and came in consequence to Babylon.
…
It was taught: Rebbi was lying [on his sickbed] at Tzippori but a [burial] place was reserved for him at Beis She'arim.
Was it not, however, taught: Justice, justice shalt thou follow. follow Rebbi to Beis She'arim? — Rebbi was [indeed] living at Beis She'arim but when he fell ill he was brought to Tzippori because it was situated on higher ground and its air was salubrious.
On the day when Rebbi died the Rabbis decreed a public fast and offered prayers for heavenly mercy. They announced that whoever said that Rebbi was dead would be stabbed with a sword.
Rebbi's handmaid ascended the roof and prayed: 'the immortals desire Rebbi [to join them] and the mortals desire Rebbi [to remain with them]; may it be the will [of God] that the mortals may overpower the immortals'. When, however, she saw how often he needed the bathroom, painfully taking off his tefillin and putting them on again, she prayed: 'May it be the will [of the Almighty] that the immortals may overpower the mortals'. As the Rabbis incessantly continued their prayers for [heavenly] mercy she took up a jar and threw it down from the roof to the ground. [For a moment] they ceased praying and the soul of Rebbi departed to its eternal rest.
'Go', said the Rabbis to Bar Kappara, 'and investigate'. He went and, finding that [Rebbi] was dead, he tore his cloak and turned the tear backwards. [On returning to the Rabbis] he began: 'The angels and the mortals have taken hold of the Holy Ark. The angels overpowered the mortals and the Holy Ark has been captured'. 'Has he', they asked him, 'gone to his eternal rest?' — 'You said it; I did not say it'.
Rebbi, at the time of his passing, raised his ten fingers towards heaven and said: 'Sovereign of the Universe, it is revealed and known to you that I have laboured in the study of the Torah with my ten fingers and that I did not enjoy [any worldly] benefits even with my little finger. May it be Your will that there be peace in my resting place'. A bas kol echoed, announcing, He shall enter into peace; they shall rest on their beds.

May His Soul Be Bound in the Bonds of Eternal Life


also posted on www.torahlab.org

Yarzheit - Rabbeinu Yonah

Today (27th Cheshvan) is the Yarzheit of my favourite Rishon (at the moment), Rabbeinu Yonah. His words are all classics of Jewish thought, and his commentary on Pirkei Avos is essential reading for every Jew (according to R' Wolbe in Alei Shur).

As you know, I have just translated this commentary into English, and you can get a copy either by e-mailing me, or from Amazon, or from the publisher - www.torahlab.org (If you order it from me I'll even sign it for you if you want).

Also from torahlab you can see a couple of pages from the book as a sample. This is Rabbeinu Yonah's commentary on one Mishna

Here is a biography of Rabbienu Yonah written by Rabbi Yaacov Haber, taken from the book.

Foreword

Rabbi Yaacov Haber

“There were many great Torah authors and many styles of mussar[1]. Not every author can speak to every soul; there are after all so many different types of souls. The exception to this is Rabbeinu Yonah Girondi (and specifically his book on teshuvah[2]). His writings are appropriate to every Jew in every time. (Rabbi Chaim of Velozhin as quoted by the Chofetz Chaim[3])

Rabbeinu Yonah came from Girona, in Catalonia. He was a grandson and student of the Ramban[4] (Nachmanides), and the teacher of the Rashba[5]. He was also considered the most prominent pupil of Rabbi Shlomoh Min HaHor[6] who was the leader of the opponents of Rambams'[7] philosophical works. As such, he was one of the signers of the infamous ban proclaimed against the Moreh Nevuchim and the Sefer HaMadda in 1233. According to his pupil, Hillel of Verona[8], Rabbeinu Yonah felt that these editions were philosophically dangerous to the masses and was the instigator of the public burning of Maimonides' writings by the church in 1233.[9]

Nine years later, in 1242, twenty-four wagon-loads of the Talmud were burned by the church at the very same place where the philosophical writings of Rambam had been destroyed. Rabbeinu Yonah, realized that he made a mistake and publicly admitted in the synagogue of Montpellier that he had been wrong in all his acts against the works and fame of Maimonides.

In his repentance he vowed to travel to Eretz Yisroel and prostrate himself on the grave of the Rambam and implore his pardon in the presence of ten men for seven consecutive days. He left France with that intention, but was detained, first in Barcelona and later in Toledo. He remained in Toledo, and became one of the great Talmudical teachers of his time.

In all his lectures and in his writings he made a point of quoting from Rambam; always mentioning his name with great reverence. Rabbeinu Yonah’s sudden death from a rare disease was considered by many as a consequence of failure to fulfil his vow to journey to the grave of Rambam. He died in Toledo, Spain in November of 1263.

It is surmised that Rabbeinu Yonah wrote a number of works to atone for his earlier attacks on Rambam and to emphasize his repentance. His Iggeres HaTeshuvah, Shaare Teshuvah, and Sefer HaYirah are among the most popular ethical treatises in the Judaic library. The Shaare Teshuvah first appeared in Fano (1505) with the Sefer HaYirah, while the Iggeres HaTeshuvah was first published in Cracow (1586). All have been reprinted many times, separately and together, as well as numerous extracts from them. Rabbeinu Yonah actually wrote many more treatises which were compiled together and published as Shaarei Tzedek; unfortunately most of these writings have been lost.

The great Gaon Rebbe Akiva Eiger[10] commented that he enjoyed studying the mussar works of Rabbeinu Yonah because aside from being a great ethicist, Rabbeinu Yonah was one of the greatest Talmudic scholars of all time as well as a authority on Jewish law. He is mentioned several times in the commentary of the Tosafos[11] on the Talmud, referred to there as Rabbi Yonah.


[1] ethical reproof and guidance.

[2] repentance; ref. to Shaarei Teshuva

[3] Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan of Radin,( Poland, 1838-1933)

[4] Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, also known as Nachmanides ( Spain, 1194-1270)

[5] Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet, (Spain,1235-1310)

[6] Rabbi Shlomo of Montpellier in Provence (12th century)

[7] Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, also known as Maimonides (Egypt, 1135-1204)

[8] Hillel ben Solomon of Verona (Italy, 1220-1295)

[9] Pope Gregory IX believed the problem of heresy needed serious attention and was not content with leaving it to the bishops, who might have been negligent, but extended Papal control in this fundamental area as well. In 1231, he established the Papal Inquisition to deal with it. As part of their response, they instigated the burning of controversial works, often after public debate, including the writings of Rambam, the Talmud and the commentaries of the Tosafos.

[10] Posen (1761-1837)

[11] Thirteenth century commentators on the Talmud the leaders of whom were the grandchildren of Rashi

May His Soul Be Bound in the Bonds of Eternal Life

Yarzheit - the Rosh

The Rosh is one of the most crucial Rishonim on the Talmud. He is printed in the back of almost every Talmud, and is useful both as a halachacist, and also as one of the last tosafists he often clarifies and explains their position.

He is the bridge between Talmudic commentary and Halachic works. His son, the Tur (Yaakov ben Asher) is the author of the Arba Turim, which is the predecessor of the Shulchan Aruch. The Tur also wrote 'piskei harosh' which is a summary of the halacha derived from the Rosh's Talmudic commentary and is also printed in the back of most editions of the Talmud.

The Rosh was also the bridge between the Ashkenazi and Sefardi worlds, forced as he was to resettle and move from Northern Europe to Spain. His commentary is therefore an interesting commentary on the different customs of East and West at the time. R' Yosef Karo uses him as the 'Ashkenazi' amonst his three main sources (the other two being the Rif and Rambam).

This is from the OU:

Rabbi Asher ben Yechiel - The “Rosh”
(1250-1328)

The commentary on the Talmud authored by the Rosh, Rabbi Asher ben Yechiel, is found in the back of nearly every edition of the Babylonian Talmud. The popularity of his commentary reflect his clarity of thought and expression, and his halachic authority as the close disciple of the Maharam, Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg (1215-1293). The Maharam was the last of the German Baalei Tosafos. Thus, his student, Rabbi Asher ben Yechiel, assimilated and represented the Ashkenazic tradition of Torah learning.

Because of the savage activities of the Crusaders, Rabbi Asher fled to Spain in 1306. His first stop was Barcelona, where the Rashba gave him a cordial welcome. He then moved on to Toledo, where he became Chief “Dayan,” Judge in matters of Jewish Law, and Chief Rabbi of the community.

The Rosh was not pleased by the Spanish approach to Torah learning, which he saw as attributing excessive value to philosophy and other secular studies. He felt that the unavoidable consequence of the Spanish approach would be the “watering down” of the focus on the Talmud, the true source and repository of Jewish wisdom. Yet, by the sheer greatness of his Torah ideas, the influence of Ashkenaz began to penetrate the Spanish Torah world.

The halachic opinions of the Rosh were binding upon Ashkenazic Jewry. But Spanish Jewry also began to take into account his opinions in their formulation of Jewish Law. Rabbi Yoseph Karo (1488-1575) in the “Bais Yoseph” and in the “Shulchan Aruch,” classics of Jewish Law, gave equal weight to the halachic opinions of the Rosh as to the opinions of the Sephardic Torah giants the Rif and the Rambam. His method in those cases where the opinions of Ashkenaz and Sepharad differed, was to decide the Law by “taking a vote,” as it were, among those three opinions, and the Law would be in accordance with two out of the three opinions.

Here is his biography from wikipedia

Asher ben Jehiel (Hebrew, אשר בן יחיאל, or Asher ben Yechiel, sometimes Asheri) (1250 or 1259 – 1328) was an eminent rabbi and Talmudist best known for his abstract of Talmudic law. He is often referred to as Rabbenu Asher, “our Rabbi Asher” or by the Hebrew acronym for this title, the ROSH (Hebrew, רא"ש, literally "Head").

Biography

The Rosh was born in western Germany and died in Toledo, Spain. His family was prominent for learning and piety, his father Jehiel was a Talmudist, and one of his ancestors was Rabbi Eliezer ben Nathan (the RaABaN). Asher had eight sons, the most prominent of whom were Judah and Jacob, author of the Arba'ah Turim, a code of Jewish law. His primary teacher was the Tosafist Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, then in Worms. In addition to his studies, ROSH worked in money lending, and according to his own statement, was independently wealthy.

In 1286, Emperor Rudolf I had instituted a new persecution of the Jews, and Rabbi Meir left Germany, but was captured and imprisoned. The ROSH raised a ransom for his release, but Rabbi Meir refused it, for fear of encouraging the imprisonment of other rabbis. Thereafter Rosh assumed Rabbi Meir's position in Worms. He was, however, forced to emigrate (in all likelihood, a victim of blackmail by the government, aimed at acquiring his fortune). After leaving Germany, he first settled in southern France, and then in Toledo, Spain, where he became rabbi on the recommendation of Rabbi Solomon ben Aderet (RaShBA). Rabbenu Asher's son Judah testified to the fact that he died in poverty.

Rabbenu Asher possessed "methodical and systematic" Talmudic knowledge, and was distinguished for his ability to adumbrate long Talmudic discussions. The ROSH, influenced by his teacher Rabbi Meir, was averse to lenient decisions in halakha, even when theoretically justified. (Several of his rulings which may appear lenient, are actually strictures: his decision against praying more than three times a day is, in fact, limiting. Similarly, his assertion that the phrase halacha le-Moshe me-Sinai - "an oral law revealed to Moses on Sinai" - does not always bear a literal meaning but often signifies a universally adopted custom, is not usually taken as a liberal interpretation.) The ROSH was, however, known for his independent legal reasoning: "We must not be guided in our decisions by the admiration of great men, and in the event of a law not being clearly stated in the Talmud, we are not bound to accept it, even if it be based on the works of the Geonim." (For instance, the ROSH ruled that the liturgy of the Geonim, was not in violation of the Talmudic rule against change in the prayers.)

Rabbenu Asher was opposed to the study of secular knowledge, especially philosophy. He held that philosophy is based on critical research, whereas religion is based on tradition and the two are thus "incapable of harmonization". He said that "none that go under her may return" - in fact, he thanked God for having saved him from its influence, and boasted of possessing no knowledge outside the Torah. He led the anti-Maimonists in Spain; he also attempted to issue a decree against the study of non-Jewish learning. One effect of this attitude was to limit his influence on secular Spanish Jewry. At the same time, within rabbinic circles, "he transplanted the strict and narrow Talmudic spirit from Germany to Spain", and this, in some measure, turned Spanish Jews from secular research to the study of the Talmud.

Works

Rabbenu Asher’s best known work is his abstract of Talmudic law. This work specifies the final, practical halakha, leaving out the intermediate discussion and concisely stating the final decision. It omits areas of law limited to Eretz Yisrael (such as agricultural and sacrificial laws) as well as the aggadic portions of the Talmud. Asher’s son Jacob compiled a list of the decisions found in the work, under the title Piskei Ha-ROSH (decisions of the ROSH). Commentaries on his Halachot were written by a number of later Talmudists. In yeshivot, this work is studied as a regular part of the daily talmud study.

This work resembles the Hilchot of the Rif (Rabbi Isaac Alfasi) - also an adumbration - but differs in quoting later authorities: Maimonides, the Tosafists and Alfasi himself. Rabbenu Asher's work superseded Alfasi's within a short time and has been printed with almost every edition of the Talmud since its publication. This work was so important in Jewish law that Yosef Karo included the ROSH together with Maimonides and Isaac Alfasi as one of the three major poskim (decisors) considered in determining the final ruling in his Shulkhan Arukh.

Rabbi Asher also wrote:

* Orchot Chaim, an essay on ethics, written for his sons. It begins with the comment, “Distance yourself from haughtiness, with the essence of distancing.” Orchot Chaim is today an important text in mussar study.
* A commentary on Zeraim (the first order of the Mishnah) - with the exception of Tractate Berachot.
* A commentary on Tohorot (the sixth order of the Mishnah).
* Tosafot-like glosses on several Talmudic topics.
* A volume of responsa; see History of Responsa: Fourteenth century.

May His Soul be Bound in the Bonds of Eternal Life

Yarzheit - R' Shimon Shkop

Known to all as simply R' Shimon, R' Shimon Shkop is one of the 'Roshei Yeshiva' who has become part of the staple diet of all yeshiva students. His chidushim in Shaarei Yosher with new and unique ways of looking at talmudic topics, revolutionised Torah study, and created a new foundation on which later novellae were built.

Today, 9th Cheshvan is the Yarzheit of this genius who refused to stay in America and returned to Europe before WWII at the request of the Chofetz Chaim and R' Chaim Ozer. He died during the war (though not in the holocaust).

Here is his biography from wikipedia

Rabbi Shimon Shkop (1860-1940) was a rosh yeshiva ("dean") in the Telshe yeshiva and a renowned Talmudic sholar. He was born in Tortz in 1860. At the age of twelve he went to study in the Mir yeshiva, and at fifteen he went to Volozhin yeshiva where he studied six years. His teachers were the Netziv and Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik, with whom he was very close.

Telz

Rabbi Shkop married a niece of Rabbi Eliezer Gordon and in 1885 was appointed to the Telz Yeshiva, where he remained for 18 years until 1903. While there, he developed a system of talmudic study which combined the logical analysis and penetrating insights of Rabbi Chaim Brisker with the simplicity and clarity of Rabbi Naphtali Zevi Yehudah Berlin (the Netziv) and which became known as the "Telz way of learning".

In 1903, he was appointed Rabbi of Moltsh, and in 1907 of Bransk. A famous pupil of his in Moltsh was Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna who studied under him for a year in 1906, before leaving to Slabodka when Rabbi Shkop himself left. During World War I, the communal leaders urged him to leave before the Germans arrived, but he refused and stayed with his community.

Grodno

Between 1920 and 1939, at the request of Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, he succeeded Rabbi Alter Shmuelevitz as Rosh Yeshiva of the renowned Sha'ar HaTorah in Grodno. He raised the level of the institution and transformed it into one of the finest yeshivos in Poland and beyond. Hundreds of young men flocked there from near and far. For many years, Rabbi Zelik Epstein, an alumnus of the original yeshiva, ran a successor in Queens. It is known as an exemplary institution.

As a young man of eighteen, Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz was invited by Rabbi Shimon to give the third level lecture in the Yeshivah Ketanah in Grodno. At the age of 22, he headed a group of students who transferred from Grodno to Mir. However, his four years in Grodno with Rabbi Shimon had a profound influence on his approach to Talmudic analysis.

Yeshiva University

In 1928 Rabbi Shkop traveled to the United States in order to raise much needed funds for the Yeshiva. After delivering a lecture at Yeshiva University, he eventually acceded to Rabbi Bernard (Dov) Revel's invitation to serve as the Rosh Yeshiva of Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan (RIETS) in New York. In his absence from Poland, he was greatly missed by Rabbis Yisrael Meir Kagan and Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, who pleaded with him to return. In the fall of 1929, Rabbi Shkop returned to Europe.

Character and personality

Alive to the problems of the day, Rabbi Shkop had a winning personality. He was an active member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of the Agudas Yisroel. Many of his students attained distinction, among them Rabbis Elchonon Wasserman of Baronovitch, Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman of Ponevezh and Isser Yehuda Unterman, a future Israeli Chief Rabbi. Dayan Michoel Fisher of London was also a pupil of Rabbi Shkop.

As one of Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik's three main students, the others being his son Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveichik and Rabbi Baruch Ber Lebowitz, it was told: If Rabbi Chaim had said, "This table is a cow," Rabbi Yitzchak Zev would say that the table had the same Talmudic laws as a cow, Rabbi Shimon would say the molecules in a table could be rearranged into a cow, but Rabbi Boruch Ber would go milk the table.

Rabbi Shkop formed close bonds with the somewhat younger Rabbi Yehuda Zev Segal, the future Manchester Rosh Yeshiva. He would sometimes come to England to fundraise for his yeshiva, and Rabbi Segal took advantage of these opportunities to serve as his attendant, spending one vacation at Rabbi Shimon's summer resort, studying with him and accompanying him on his walks.

Major works

He published his classic essay titled Sha'arei Yosher (The Gates of Honesty) in 1925 and Ma'arekhet ha-Kinyanim in 1936. Novellae on the Talmud tractates Bava Kamma, Bava Metzia, and Bava Basra were published posthumously in 1947 with a preface by his son, and on Nedarim, Gittin, and Kiddushin in 1952, and on Yevamos and Ketuvot in 1957. Rabbi Shkop’s Talmudic novellae are still studied in yeshivos throughout the world today.

Sha'arei Yosher is largely concerned with the intellectual principles by which the law is established, rather than with concrete laws, and has a strong affinity to the Shev Shema'tata of Aryeh Leib HaCohen Heller, on which it was partly based.

Death

As the Russian army was about to enter Grodno during World War II, he ordered his students to flee to Vilna and he himself died two days later on the 9th of Cheshvan 5700 (1940) in Grodno. Including his death, the Jewish people lost three Rabbis and Torah giants in 10 months: Shimon Shkop, Boruch Ber Levovitz of Kamenitz and Chaim Ozer Grodzinski.

May His Soul be Bound in the Bonds of Eternal Life

Yarzheit - R' Meir Shapira

Today is the yarzheit of the founder of 'daf yomi', Rav Meir Shapira. Although the idea of daf yomi met with some opposition, with hindsight we can see the tremendous amount of Torah learning by people of all stripes that R' Shapira brought into the world. Although a simple idea, it needed the right person at the right time (and probably needed Artscroll to come out with the English translation before it really took off) to implement such a program.


from jafi.org

Rabbi Meir Shapira of Lublin, the founding Rosh Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin and an esteemed luminary of his generation across the world of Jewish study, proposed a universal calendar for studying the entire Talmud Bavli (Babylonian Talmud) on the basis of a double page a day, for 2711 days, thus completing the cycle in about 7 years. He did so to foster Jewish learning, commitment and unity, and he launched the project at the First World Congress of Agudath Yisrael, in Vienna, on 11th September 1923 (5683), from where it spread to leading yeshivot and religious authorities.

This amazingly simple concept took off immediately in E. Europe and only post-war around the world – being officially adopted in the pre-state Yishuv in 1947, as well as in the USA, Canada and Great Britain - learning in yeshivot, informal groups, formal shiurim and hevrutot. The eleventh and current cycle ends on 21st Adar I, 5765 (1st-2nd March 2005) and there is a celebratory siyum in Tel Aviv on 1st March (Hebrew, Yiddish) and in Jerusalem on 2nd March (English, Russian).

Today, audio cassettes, online streamed, live, or downloadable video, audio with text classes/files, email lists, CDs, conference calls, discussion boards, Palm versions, ShasPod, and the like, make the Daf Yomi available to the widest ever audience worldwide in several languages - with the majority of such online resources being free of charge (donations are usually welcome!). You can naturally still attend real live shiurim, some of them also web-casted or web-published, but the convenience of access to online or offline shiurim in digital and recorded formats has revolutionized the Daf Yomi for commuters, students, and busy individuals worldwide. If you travel on the Inwood Long Island Railroad to Manhattan early enough in the morning, you can even follow a live lesson on wheels.

From jewishgen.org

Rabbi Yehuda Meir Shapira was born in March 1887. His father was Rabbi Yaakov Shimshon of Schatz (Bukovina), son of Rabbi Yehuda Meir, son of Rabbi Dov of Tlost, son of Rabbi Yehuda Meir of Shpitovka, son of the famous tzaddik and friend of Besht (the founder of Chassidism), Rabbi Pinchus of Kuritz, a descendant of Rabbi Natan Shapira, author of Megalah Amukot of Cracow. In his youth, he caused a stir in the world of the Torah with his wisdom and great knowledge. This is confirmed by the great sage, Rabbi Shalom Mordechai Svedron of Berzan, in the ordination certificate he issued for the Rabbi Meir, in which he writes, “I saw a young man named Meir and I offered the blessing Yotzer Ha'meorot (creator of the lights).”

Rabbi Shapira had studied with his maternal grandfather, Rabbi Shmuel Yitzhak Schor of Munstritz, author of Minchat Shai, mastering all aspects of Torah and knowledge; soon he became known as a great scholar. A wealthy Galician Jew named Rabbi Yaakov David Breitman of Tarnopol gave him his daughter's hand in marriage.

He became totally dedicated to the study of Torah at his comfortable home in Tarnopol. In a short time the “genius of Schatz” became one of the leading lights of his generation. His home became a meeting place for rabbis and scholars who would direct their questions to him; his answers always hit the mark and were accepted favorably, which drew much attention to him. He was seen as a rising star in the world of Halacha, and he proceeded to publish his first book, Imrey Daat. Around that time he was offered the position of rabbi of the town of Galina in Galicia and he quickly accepted it, although his in-laws were against his becoming a servant of the community. In Galina he continued to learn Torah and tried to start a school for children and a yeshiva for young men. The neglected town became a center of Torah. His first yeshiva in Galina, which he headed, became a source of famous rabbis who followed in his footsteps.

But Rabbi Shapira's restless spirit would not let him remain in Galina. He became a public champion of Torah and faith, and in public gatherings he raised his voice against the neglect of young people and proclaimed himself spiritual father to the yeshiva students who, because of lack of attention, were condemned to waste away. He had labored successfully in Galina for ten years, but he started to feel that the place was too small for him; in 1922 he became rabbi in Sanok.


Public Leader and Delegate to the Sejm

In Sanok he also found much to do. Here, too, he did a great deal for the community, and his fame increased. Legends spread about his dynamic personality. He became a member of Agudath Israel and did a great deal for that movement. From Sanok he was often invited to appear on the podium on behalf of Poland's religious Jewry, as a speaker, he fired up the masses. He was chosen to head Agudath Israel and was elected delegate to the Polish Sejm (parliament).

On Adar 16, 1924, he was chosen rabbi of the great town of Piotrkow, which boasted many sages and writers, devoted Jews and Jewish scholars. In 1923 he had proposed at a great assembly of Agudath Israel in Vienna the study of a “daily page” of Talmud and the establishment of universal yeshiva; both proposals were received with loud applause.

When Rabbi Shapira became the rabbi of Piotrkow, he was only 37 years old; not since the days of the Gaon author of Brit Avraham, who had become rabbi of Piotrkow at a young age, had anyone been appointed so young to serve as a rabbi of a town that had known so many great rabbis and sages. He served as rabbi of the town whiles spending most of his time away because of his frequent trips on behalf of the Lublin Sages Yeshiva, which he had organized. But his leadership was felt in Piotrkow, as he was dedicated to his work in the community. This imprint was felt in all matters, great and small. His fiery sermons inspired people, and he became extremely popular; his speeches always drew an overflow crowd.


Head of the Lublin Sages Yeshiva

Rabbi Shapira's crowning achievement was the establishment of the Lublin Sages Yeshiva (Yeshivat Chochmei Lublin). He brought together exemplary people, old Chassidim, heads of Orthodox Jewry and public leaders who proceeded to establish the great yeshiva which was his life's dream. The Piotrkow community gave him a great deal of help. Many of its communal leaders supported him because of his great influence and their admiration for him. While serving as rabbi in Piotrkow, he was fortunate enough to see his dreams fulfilled, and even took part in the first conclusion of Talmudic study (siyum), which occurred on the 15th of Shvat, 1934. He was able to teach Torah to his students after the foundation was laid for the great building of the yeshiva, an event that was joyously celebrated at his home in Piotrkow. It took seven years to complete the building; he worked day and night raising funds for the cause. In his short life he was able to see this project completed.

In 1926, Rabbi Shapira published his responsa book Or Hameir, a second edition of which was published by his brother in New York in 1951. In Iyar, 1931 he became president of the rabbinical court in Lublin and moved to that city, having served in Piotrkow for six years. His many cares gave him no rest after he settled in Lublin, and he would often tell his friends that he missed his rabbinical position in Piotrkow. Because of his difficult work in Lublin he became prematurely old, and despite his young age his hair turned gray. He suddenly took ill and on the 7th of Heshvan, 1934, after living in Lublin for two and a half years, he departed this world at the age of 46 and eight months. Nearly one hundred thousand people attended his funeral, and religious Jewry in Poland and elsewhere went into deep mourning.

May His Soul Be Bound in the Bonds of Eternal Life

Yarzheit - Chay Adam

Today is not only Tzom Gedaliah (delayed by a day because of Shabbat, which makes some of the piyutim we said this morning in selichot somewhat ironic), but also the Yarzheit of R' Avraham Danzig - the Chay Adam (also the Chochmas Adam and many other names).

There were many books written in the 18-19th century which provided practical halachic guidance for the layperson. The Shulchan Aruch had become so covered with commentaries that it was no longer easy to actually know what to do and what not. So in Europe we find books such as Shulchan Aruch Harav, Aruch HaShulchan, Kitzur Shulchan Aruch and the most famous the Mishna Brura. In the Sefardi world there was the Ben Ish Chai and the Kaf HaChaim and Makor Chaim.

The standard 'text book' for Lithuanian Jewry was the Chay Adam on daily living (Orech Chaim things) and Chochmas Adam on other issues (Yoreh Deah things - Chochma/ Deah). His rulings even today carry more weight for real 'Litvaks' than the Mishna Brura (at least some times).

He is also the author of several other little known but excellent Halachic works (listed below). Most of them have been reprinted in the latest edition of the two 'Adams'. Learn them!

Here is the bio from the Jewish Encyclopedia:

AVRAHAM BEN YECHIEL DANZIG

His Youth.

Lithuanian codifier; born in Danzig in 1747 or 1748; died at Wilna Sept. 12, 1820. He was descended from a family of scholars in West Prussia, his great-grandfather, Jehiel Michael, having been rabbi in Schottland, near Danzig; his grandfather was Samuel, the author of the commentary on Isaiah, "Neḥamot Ẓiyyon." When Danzig was fourteen years old his father sent him to the yeshibah in Prague, after exacting from him a promise that he would not mingle with the "Moderns," who, through the influence of Mendelssohn in Prussia, were gradually coming into prominence. Under the guidance of Ezekiel Landau and Joseph Liebermann, Danzig zealously devoted himself to the study of the Talmud, and at eighteen years of age he left Bohemia with a "ḥaber" diploma, showing him to be a proficient Talmudist. He then settled in Wilna, Lithuania. When offered the salaried position of rabbi he declined it, considering it improper to receive a stipend in such a capacity, and he engaged in business as a merchant, visiting the fairs of Leipsic and Königsberg. Only in his later years, and after having lost almost his entire fortune through the explosion of a powder-magazine, could he be induced to accept the position of dayyan in Wilna, which office he held until his death. His fixed intention had been to emigrate to the Holy Land.

His Works.

Danzig is the author of the following: "Ḥayye Adam: Nishmat Adam" (The Life of Man: the Soul of Man), Wilna, 1810, reedited many times; "Ḥokmat Adam: Binat Adam" (The Wisdom of Man: the Understanding of Man), ib. 1814, reedited many times; "Sha'are Ẓedeḳ" (The Gates of Justice), on the commandments and prohibitions having reference to the land of Palestine, ib. 1812; Jerusalem, 1863. "Zikru Torat Mosheh" (Be Mindful of the Teaching of Moses), precepts for the Sabbath, Wilna, 1820, and several editions (this little work contains by way of supplement the treatise "Miẓwot Mosheh" [The Precepts of Moses], an extract from Askari's book "Ḥaredim" [The God-Fearing]; "Toledot Adam," a commentary on the Passover Haggadah, ib. 1817 (in the Haggadah edition "Ma'aleh Bet Ḥoron"); "Bet Abraham" (The House of Abraham), his last work, 1821, and many editions (also translated into Judæo-German by Isaac Hamburger, Lemberg, 1875). Among the writings of Danzig not yet published are an elaborate ethical work, specimen pages of which are contained in the introduction to "Zikru Torat Mosheh," and commentaries to several books of the Bible.

Danzig is especially known as the author of "Ḥayye Adam" and "Ḥokmat Adam," which represent the most important productions in the line of codification after the time of Joseph Caro and Mordecai Yafe. In these two works Danzig treats of the same subject-matter as the first two parts of the Shulḥan 'Aruk. The enormous mass of new material which had accumulated in the field of the Halakah since the appearance of the Shulḥan 'Aruk—a period embracing more than two and a half centuries—was collected and critically sifted by Danzig and presented in a readily intelligible form. His codex, however, was intended primarily for the cultured layman and not for the officiating rabbi. Hence there is a tendency to give prominence to the more exacting side of the Law, even though in his expert decisions and treatises, which, under the respective titles of "Nishmat Adam" and "Binat Adam," are added to "Ḥayye Adam" and "Ḥokmat Adam," Danzig shows independence enough to oppose the views of the AḤaronim, and he frequently protests against the tendency to decide in favor of new prohibitions. His "Ḥayye Adam" met with unusual success during the author's lifetime. In many cities societies were formed for the purpose of studying this work; and even to-day these societies may be found in most of the Polish-Russian communities.

His Importance as Codifier.

This success was well merited; for there is hardly another work that presents in so concise and lucid a manner all the details of the discussions of the Aḥaronim. Danzig preserves in his works a certain freshness of tone, and dwells with special emphasis upon the ethical bearings of religious precepts. The high ethical standpoint of the author reveals itself most conspicuously in his "Bet Abraham," and the contents of this little book alone should suffice to refute the accusation that Talmudism had stitled religio-ethical sentiments. The love of God, it is pointed out, is man's highest mission, to which the fear of God is only a preparatory stage. The enjoyment of worldly things is not in itself to be condemned; but man is to bear constantly in mind that the recognition of God and the exercise of good deeds are the proper occupation of life. He lays great stress upon prayer; but this must not bemere lip-service; and, accordingly, he bids his children say their prayers in German rather than in unintelligible Hebrew. This is all the more noteworthy since Danzig in this very work enters a protest against all innovations, and even denounces the reading of German books.

His Ethics.

Love of truth and contentedness he especially enjoins; and declares repeatedly that "an offense against one's fellow being is far more reprehensible than a sin against God." He not only admonishes his family, therefore, to refrain from all dishonesty in their business relations with both Jews and non-Jews, but makes it a duty never to decide in money matters according to one's own opinions, but to inquire of a learned man whether the intended action conforms to the Law. While insisting upon the strictest observance of the rites, he bids his children even to let the time of prayer pass if this be necessary to secure money wherewith to pay a working man's wages.

Characteristic of Danzig is his warning not to study the Cabala before the age of maturity and before the study of the Talmudic-rabbinic literature. He himself shows an acquaintance with the Cabala; but in his halakic writings this is not made apparent. A somewhat mystical touch appears in his prayer for the eve of the Day of Atonement. This prayer may be found in "Ḥayye Adam" (No. 144), and has been published separately several times in Judæo-German as well as in Hebrew, under the title "Tefillah Zakkah" (Sincere Prayer).

May His Soul be Bound in the Bonds of Eternal Life

Yarzheit - Noson Adler

Today is the Yarzheit of R' Noson Adler, Rav of Frankfurt and teacher of the Chasam Sofer. Until I researched this post, that was all I knew about him (and the fact that he didn't have any children, yet the Chasam Sofer didn't name any of his sons after his Rebbe because he held that children should only be named after people in the family).

So here is what I found. Much more interesting than your average Rabbi!

ADLER, NATHAN: By : Gotthard Deutsch


German cabalist; born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, Dec. 16, 1741; died there Sept. 17, 1800. As a precocious child he won the admiration of Ḥayyim Joseph David Azulai, who, in 1752, came to Frankfort to solicit contributions for the poor of Palestine. Adler attended the rabbinical school of Jacob Joshua, author of "Pene Yehoshua'," who was at that time rabbi at Frankfort; but his principal teacher was David Tebele Schiff, afterward rabbi in London. In 1761 he established a yeshibah himself, in which several prominent rabbis received their early teachings, notable among whom were Abraham Auerbach, Abraham Bing, rabbi in Würzburg, and especially Moses Sofer (Schreiber), rabbi in Presburg. Nathan Adler was mystically inclined. He had devoted himself to the study of the Cabala, and adopted the liturgical system of Isaac Luria, assembling about himself a select community of cabalistic adepts. He prayed according to the Sephardic ritual, pronounced the priestly blessing every day, and in other ways approached the school of the Ḥasidim, who had at that time provoked the strongest censures on the part of the Talmudists of the old school. His followers claimed that he had performed miracles (Moses Sofer, "Ḥatam Sofer, Oraḥ Ḥayyim," 197), and turned visionaries themselves, frightening many persons with predictions of misfortunes which would befall them. Finally, the rabbis and congregational leaders intervened in 1779 and prohibited, under penalty of excommunication, the assemblies in Nathan Adler's house.

R. Nathan, however, paid no attention to these orders, but continued in his ecstatic piety. He even excommunicated a man who had disregarded his orders, although this was contrary to the laws of the congregation. His doors remained open day and night, and he declared all his possessions to be common property, that thus he might prevent the punishment of those who might carry away by mistake anything with them. Moreover, he commanded Moses Sofer, who had quarreled with his father, never to speak to his parent again. When the same disciple reported to him that he had gone through the whole Talmud, he advised him to celebrate that event by a fast of three days. In spite of the continued conflict with the congregational authorities, the fame of R. Nathan's piety and scholarship grew, and in 1782 he was elected rabbi of Boskowitz in Moravia. But his excessive and mystical piety having made enemies for him, he was forced to leave his congregation, and in 1785 returned to Frankfort. As he still persisted in his former ways, the threat of excommunication was renewed in 1789, which act was not repealed until shortly before his death. His wife, Rachel, daughter of Feist Cohen of Giessen, survived him. He left no children, though Nathan Adler, chief rabbi of London, was named after him. His mysticism seems to have been the cause of his repugnance to literary publications. The cabalists claimed that real esoteric theologyshould never be published, but should only be orally transmitted to worthy disciples. In his copy of the Mishnah he wrote brief marginal notes, mostly cross-references. Some of them were collected and explained with admirable ingenuity by B. H. Auerbach under the title "Mishnat Rabbi Natan." One responsum is found among those of Moses Sofer on "Yoreh De'ah," 261.

Bibliography: Auerbach, preface to "Mishnat Rabbi Natan," Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1862;
M. Horovitz, Frankfurter Rabbinen, iv. 38 et seq., Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1885;
S. Schreiber, Huṭ ha-Meshulash (Biographies of Moses Sofer, Akiba Eger, and Abraham Samuel Benjamin Sofer), pp. 2b et seq. (full of legends), Pecs, 1887;

May His Soul Be Bound in the Bonds of Eternal Life

Yarzheit - Ben Ish Chai

Today, Monday 13th Elul is the Yarzheit of R' Yosef Chaim of Baghdad, one of the most prolific and influential recent Rabbis of the Sefardi world. He wrote books on almost every topic, from Talmud to Kabbalah to Halacha to Chumash.

Wikipedia writes about him:

The Ben Ish Chai (בן איש חי) is a standard reference in Sephardi homes (functioning as "a Sephardi Kitzur Shulchan Arukh") and is widely studied in Sephardi yeshivot. Due to the popularity of this book, Hakham Yosef Chaim came to be known as "Ben Ish Chai", by which he is referred to by many today. The book is a collection of homilies he gave over two years discussing the weekly Torah portion. Each chapter begins with a mystical discussion, usually explaining how a Kabbalistic interpretation of a certain verse relates to a particular halakha, and then continuing to expound on that halakha with definitive rulings.

Hakham Yosef Chaim authored over thirty other works, and there are many published Iraqi rite siddurim (prayer books) based on his rulings, which are widely used by Sephardi Jews. Amongst the best known of his works are:

* Me-Kabtziel: an esoteric exposition of Jewish law - which he refers to often in Ben Ish Chai - providing a more detailed explanation of the reasoning underlying certain decisions. It has been speculated that Hakham Yosef Chaim's insistence on having all his works printed in Israel prevented this essential work from being published.

* Ben Yehoyada, his commentary on the Talmud, considered a basic resource in understanding the Aggada (narrative sections of the Talmud).

* The Responsa (Hebrew: Sheelot U-Teshuvot) Rav Pe'alim (Rab Pəʕalim) and Torah Lishmah.

The names Ben Ish Chai, Me-Kabtziel , Rav Pe'alim and Ben Yehoyada derive from 2 Samuel 23:20

There is a long article about him on Yarzheit.com, including a biography of one of his last pupils, R' Yitzchak Kadouri.

Rabbeinu Yosef Chayim of Baghdad, author of Ben Ish Chai, Od Yosef Chai, Rav Pe’alim, Ben Yehoyada, Aderet Eliyahu, and Imrei Bina, and many other works (1832-1904). Both his grandfather, Reb Moshe Chaim, and his father, Reb Eliyahu, served as Rov of Baghdad. Reb Eliyahu and his wife were childless for many years. Finally, 10 years after their marriage, his wife made the long journey from Baghdad to Morocco torequest a blessing from the renowned Reb Yaakov Buchatzeira, the Abir Yaakov. The tzaddik blessed her that she would give birth to a child who would one day illuminate the eyes of Jews everywhere. Less than a year later, she gave birth to a boy, who was named Yosef Chaim. As a child, he spent most of his time studying in his father's large library. At the age of 10, he left the Sephardic cheder in which he learned and began to study with his uncle, the tzaddik Reb Dovid Chai Nissim. Reb Dovid later founded the famed Shoshanim LeDavid Yeshiva located in the Beis Yisroel section of Yerushalayim. When his father passed away, Rabbeinu Yosef Chaim was only 25 years old. Nevertheless, the Jews of Baghdad accepted him to fill his fathers position as Rov of Baghdad. His opinion on halachic issues was sought throughout the Sephardi world and is still followed by thousands of people from these communities, and even outside these communities. Rabbeinu Yosef Chaim's son, Reb Yaakov, succeeded him as rav and maggid of Baghdad. His main disciple was the kabbalist and tzaddik Reb Yehuda Moshe Petaya.

Those who have read his works are inspired by them. Those who have not done so, should! Ben Ish Chai (son of the living man), even after his death is still living (see Brachos 3b)

May His Soul Be Bound in the Bonds of Eternal Life

Yarzheit R' Tzadok HaCohen

I don't know if it is the heat, or what, but I was too exhausted yesterday to post this. But I can't let R' Tzadok's yarzheit go unmentioned. Yesterday, 9th Elul was his yarzheit. He was one of the few original Jewish philosophers of the 19th century. His thought is a crossover of Lithuanian and Chasidic thinking, and he wrote extensively on almost everything - from chumash and Talmud, to chasidus and even the Torah that he learned in his dreams.

Rabbi Haber at Torahlab is having a sale of two of his books in honour of his yarzheit. They have a limited amount of the Kest-Lebovitz edition of Reb Tzadok’s classics Tzidkas HaTzadik and Machsheves Charutz. They are selling a package of both of these seforim together for only $7.50 plus shipping. Click here for more info and to order.


There is a lot of Torah from him on the internet, but I didn't find very many stories about him. I wanted to include more anecdotes about his life, but haven't got time now to write. So these brief biographies will have to do (taken from wikipedia and torahlab

He was born into a Lithuanian Rabbinic family and then became a follower of the Hasidic Rebbe, Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica, and a close friend of Yehudah Leib Eiger, another student of Mordechai Leiner. He is a classic example of a Litvish Jew turned Chasidic. As a young man he gained widespread acclaim as an illuy, a brilliant talmudist. Rabbi Zadok refused to accept any rabbinic post for most of his life. He eked out a living by his wife running a small used clothing store. Upon the death of Eiger in 1888, Zadok Hakohen agreed to take over the leadership of the Hasidim. It was then that he began to give his public classes that would take place on Shabbat, Holidays, Rosh Chodesh and special occasions. It is the transcription of those classes were compiled into his work known as Pri Tzadik. Rabbi Zadok was a prolific writer in all areas of Judaism, halakhah, Hasidism, Kabbalah, angelology, ethics, he also wrote scholarly essays on astronomy, geometry, and algebra.

One of his lone surviving students was Rabbi Michael Mokotovsky, whose son was Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu Mokotovsky, better known by his penname Eliyahu Kitov,

Reb Tzadok HaKohein of Lublin
(1823-1900)
Rav Tzadok, or “The Kohein” as he was known amongst Chassidim, was one of the most prolific authors in the history of the Chassidic movement. Born into a non-Chassidic rabbinic family, Rav Tzadok became famous as a child prodigy authoring articles and books which later became classics. Later in life, Rav Tzadok became Chassidic and became a Chassid of the Izbitcher Rebbe. Having excelled in both the Chassidic and non-Chassidic world, Rav Tzadok’s writings became a synthesis of analytical logic and mysticism. Eventually, Rav Tzadok became the Rebbe of Lublin. His writings are treasured by scholars everywhere.

May His Soul Be Bound in the Bonds of Eternal Life

Yarzheit - Reuven Margolios

Today (7th Elul) is the Yarzheit of one of the most brilliant and prolific (and interesting) scholars of the 20th century. R' Reuven Margolios wrote on such a wide variety of topics, often those that were not normally dealt with by the yeshivish community. However, his Maroglios Hayam is one of the standard Yeshiva books on Sanhedrin. In addition he wrote books explaining the evolution of the Oral Law, defending the Zohar and Kabbala, biographies of Rishonim and many more books.

His breadth and depth of knowelge is truly amazing, and even though he may be controversial in some of his ideas, he is essential reading on every topic.

Reuvein Margolies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Reuvein Margolies ראובן מרגליות (b. 1889- d. 1971) author of 55+ books on Jewish topics. He established the Rambam library. Possessed of an almost photographic memory, he was well versed in all aspects of both the written (Bible) and Oral Torah (Talmud and its commentaries).

Writings

R' Margolies wrote on a wide range of subjects; His works were meant for both scholars and the general public. All of his writings are in Hebrew.

He wrote on the formation of the Mishna and the Talmud displaying a tremendous originality and wide range of knowledge.

He further wrote on the Kabbalah. Such works include "The Rambam and the Zohar" demonstrating correlations between Maimonides Mishna Torah and the Zohar; Nitzotzei Zohar demonstrating correlations between the Tannatic and Amoraic works (such as the Talmud and Medrashim) and the Zohar.

Additionally, he was involved in a controversy with Gershon Scholem over the R. Jacob Emden/R. Jonathan Eybeshuetz controversy. R. Margulies produced a pamphlet defending R. Eybeshuetz and in response Scholem produced his own disagreeing with R. Marguleis's conclusions.

He wrote a number of scholarly biographies of major Jewish personalities such as the Maharsha, the Ohr Ha-Chaim, the Noam Elimelech, the Ramban, and R' Yechiel of Paris including valuable annotation clarifying ideas in their works. The biographies focus primarily on their methods of scholarship and not on their personalities. First printed in Poland, they were never reprinted.

He wrote several works concerning the development of a legal system in the newly formed Jewish State (Kavei Ohr, Tal Tichye).

According to Dr. Yitzchok Raphael, his writing is in a terse style designed to concentrate a maximum amount of information in a minimum of space.

Bibliography

* Toldot Adam (Lemberg 1912) on R. Shmuel Edels
* Yesod HaMishna V'Arikachto (Lemberg, 1933) on the creation of the Mishna
* Sefer Hassidim with his notes (multiple printings)
* Tolodot Rabenu Hayyim ben Atar (Lemberg, 1925), biography on the Ohr Hayyim includes the notes of R. Meir Dan Plotzki (Kli Hemdah)
* Ohr Meir (Lemberg, 1926), biography of R. Meir from Perlmishiya
* Margenuta d'Reb Meir (Lemberg, 1926), sayings of the above R. Meir
* Shealot u'Teshuvot min HaShamyim, R. Margulies's extensive notes on the teshuvot as well as a comprehensive introduction discussing Torah lo' Bashmyim and other related topics (multiple printings)
* Vikuach Rabbanu Yehiel m'Paris (Lemberg, 1928), with biography of R. Yehiel
* Toldot Rabbenu Avrohom Mimoni, biography of Rambam's son, (multiple printings)
* Shem Olam, to reveal the anonymous people in hazal (multiple printings)
* Nefesh Hayyia,notes on Shulchan Orakh multiple printings
* Hagadah shel Pesach (Tel Aviv, 1937)
* Shichot Chakhamim
* Zohar with his extensive notes (multiple printings)
* Sibah hisnaguto discussing R. Emden/R. Eybeschitz controversy, Tel Aviv 1941
* Malechi Elyon on angels in Hazel (multiple printings)
* Ollalot various articles (multiple printings)
* Margolios HaYam on Sanhedrin (multiple printings)
* HaMikrah v'Hamesorah multiple printings
* Mekharim b'Darkei haTalmud v'Hidosov multiple printings

There is also a memorial volume edited by Dr. Yitchak Raphael and published by Mossad R' Kook

May His Soul Be Bound in the Bonds of Eternal Life

21st Av - R' Chaim Brisker

Today is the Yarzheit of R' Chaim (Brisker) Soloveitchik. Perhaps more than anyone else in the past 200 years he has shaped yeshivas and the style of learning that goes on within them.

R' Chaim's most famous work 'Rabbeinu Chaim Halevy al HaRambam' has the status (almost) of one of the Rishonim and is learned in all yeshivas.

The classic 'brisker' style resolves contradictions within texts by making distinctions between two similar things (often 'cheftza' and 'gavra' the object itself and the mitzvah on the person who is relating to it). In a sense he brought the scientific method into Talmud study, as this HaAretz article points out:

Defining the exact nature of the Brisk revolution is not easy. Certainly, Reb Chaim Soloveitchik was an extraordinarily gifted teacher, who combined profundity and close analysis with clarity of explication. Yet much of the vocabulary he used is found in earlier sources. The emphasis on seeking an underlying conceptual stratum to explain halakha can also be traced to Soloveitchik's predecessors.

And yet there is no question that Reb Chaim's method of Talmudic analysis is revolutionary, not least because he created a language that could be applied to many different areas of halakha. Like Freud and Marx's terminology, his language mapped out new territories for consciousness to explore. His teachings inspired a generation of wildly creative Torah scholars. Whereas earlier Talmudic geniuses, as Lichtenstein writes, relied on brilliant intuitions that could not be replicated, Reb Chaim's methodology could be learned and disseminated. The sudden explosion of yeshivas at the beginning of the 20th century coincided with the spread of the Brisker method.

And this is what Wikipedia has to say about him (there is also a great chart there with the whole family tree - take a look at it):

Chaim (Halevi) Soloveitchik (Hebrew: חיים סולובייצ'יק), also known as Reb Chaim Brisker, (1853-July 30, 1918) was a rabbi and Talmudic scholar credited as the founder of the popular Brisker approach to Talmudic study within Judaism. He was from Brest, Belarus (Brisk in Yiddish), then in Imperial Russia, now in Belarus. A member of the Soloveitchik-family rabbinical dynasty, he is most commonly known as Reb Chaim Brisker ("Rabbi Chaim [from] Brisk").

He is considered the founder of the "Brisker method" (in Yiddish: Brisker derech; Hebrew: derekh brisk), a method of highly exacting and analytical Talmudical study that focuses on precise definition/s and categorization/s of Jewish law as commanded in the Torah with particular emphasis on the legal writings of Maimonides.

His primary work was Chiddushei Rabbeinu Chaim, a volume of insights on Maimonides' Mishnah Torah which often would suggest novel understandings of the Talmud as well. Based on his teachings and lectures, his students wrote down his insights on the Talmud known as Chiddushi HaGRaCh Al Shas. This book is known as "Reb Chaim's stencils" and contains analytical insights into Talmudical topics.

He married the daughter of Rabbi Refael Shapiro and had two famous sons, Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik (also known as Rabbi Velvel Soloveitchik) who subsequently moved to Israel and Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik who moved to the United States and subsequently served as a Rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva University in New York and who was in turn succeeded by his own son Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (1903-1993).

He had four main students; his son, Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik, Rabbi Baruch Ber Lebowitz, Rabbi Isser Zalmen Meltzer, and Rabbi Shimon Shkop.

A witty anecdote is used to illustrate how the three of them differed in their studies and related to their teacher: it is said that had Reb Chaim said, "This table is a cow," Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik would say that the table had the same Talmudic laws as a cow, Rabbi Shimon Shkop would say the molecules in a table could be rearranged into a cow, but Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz would go milk the table.

I love that last quote!!!

May His Soul Be Bound in the Bonds of Eternal Life

Yarzheits - Hebron and Tzfat massacres

Today is the anniversary of one of the bloodiest organised pogroms to happen in Israel in recent times. In 1929 Arab riots led to massacres in both Hebron and Tzfat. In Hebron, this resulted in the removal of all Jews from the city, ending hundreds of years of Jewish life in that city. All together 133 people were killed in these few days in a murder spree organised by the leaders of the Arabs in Israel (from the Mufti down).

And the saddest thing, is that in a google search on for 'Hebron massacre', the majority of links are about Baruch Goldstein! (I'm not defending what happened there, but it shows how the world has changed and history is being rewritten!)

From the ADL website

I believe I was the first Jew to reach Safed from the outside after the massacre there. One Friday morning we heard that there had been a pogrom in Safed. We read the official announcement: "On August 29, at 6:15, disturbances broke out in Safed. The army arrived on the scene at 8:35 and immediately restored order. There were some fatal casualties and many houses were burnt. The Jewish inhabitants were at once transferred to safety. Since then calm has prevailed in Safed."

August 29 was a Thursday. Throughout the day rumors continued to come in that the pogrom in Safed was still going on. But Government House provided us with no further information about events in Safed, which was included in the jurisdiction of the Haifa district commissioner. We had enough experience not to trust the reassuring official announcement...

We set out on Saturday morning. . . I could not believe my eyes. . . I met some of the town's Jewish elders, who fell on my neck weeping bitterly. We went down alleys and steps to the old town. Inside the houses I saw the mutilated and burned bodies of the victims of the massacre, and the burned body of a woman tied to the grille of a window. Going from house to house, I counted ten bodies that had not yet been collected. I saw the destruction and the signs of fire. Even in my grimmest thoughts I had not imagined that this was how I would find Safed where "calm prevailed."

The local Jews gave me a detailed description of how the tragedy had started. The pogrom began on the afternoon of Thursday, August 29, and was carried out by Arabs from Safed and from the nearby villages, armed with weapons and tins of kerosene. Advancing on the street of the Sefardi Jews from Kfar Meron and Ein Zeitim, they looted and set fire to houses, urging each other on to continue with the killing. They slaughtered the schoolteacher, Aphriat, together with his wife and mother, and cut the lawyer, Toledano, to pieces with their knives. Bursting into the orphanages, they smashed the children's heads and cut off their hands. I myself saw the victims. Yitshak Mammon, a native of Safed who lived with an Arab family, was murdered with indescribable brutality: he was stabbed again and again, until his body became a bloody sieve, and then he was trampled to death. Throughout the whole pogrom the police did not fire a single shot. The British police commander, Farradav, walked up and down the main street of the town, where everything was quiet, and did not go down to the scene of the massacre...

The district commissioner defended his own conduct. He said he had known that the situation there was serious, and had therefore demanded that troops be sent in, but they had arrived too late. . . I was unsparing in my criticism of him for not having visited Safed. I said that this showed in the clearest possible way that the government was to blame for what had happened. Riots had been taking place for the past seven days, seven whole days since the Hebron massacre. Incitement to violence in the Safed mosques and provocative stone throwing and threats in the streets had been daily occurrences. The warship and troops had already arrived by then. The looting, destruction, burning, and killing had begun already on Thursday evening and continued all that night and all the next day. Why, then, had the government put out its falsely reassuring announcement?

Instead of protecting the Jewish population and its property, the police commander had evacuated four thousand Jews from their homes to the courtyard of Government House, leaving their homes to be looted and burned. While the looting and killing were still going on, the police were searching the Jews for arms...

My thoughts about the Safed tragedy gave me no peace for a long time. How had such a thing happened? What was the explanation for the terrible loss of Jewish life and property, 18 killed, about 40 wounded, and 200 houses burned and looted?

Jewish Virtual Library

For some time, the 800 Jews in Hebron lived in peace with their tens of thousands of Arab neighbors. But on the night of August 23, 1929, the tension simmering within this cauldron of nationalities bubbled over, and for 3 days, Hebron turned into a city of terror and murder. By the time the massacres ended, 67 Jews lay dead and the survivors were relocated to Jerusalem, leaving Hebron barren of Jews for the first time in hundreds of years.

The summer of 1929 was one of unrest in Palestine. Jewish-Arab tensions were spurred on by the agitation of the mufti in Jerusalem. Just one day prior to the start of the Hebron massacre, three Jews and three Arabs were killed in Jerusalem when fighting broke out after a Muslim prayer service on the Temple Mount. Arabs spread false rumors throughout their communities, saying that Jews were carrying out "wholesale killings of Arabs." Meanwhile, Jewish immigrants were arriving in Palestine in increasing numbers, further exacerbating the Jewish-Arab conflict.

Hebron had, until this time, been outwardly peaceful, although tension hid below the surface. The Sephardi Jewish community in Hebron had lived quietly with its Arab neighbors for centuries. The Sephardi Jews (Jews who were originally from Spain, North Africa and Arab countries) spoke Arabic and had a cultural connection to their Arab neighbors. In the mid-1800s, Ashkenazi (native European) Jews started moving to Hebron and, in 1925, the Slobodka Yeshiva, officially the Yeshiva of Hevron, Knesset Yisrael-Slobodka, was opened. Yeshiva students lived separately from the Sephardi community, and from the Arab population. Due to this isolation, the Arabs viewed them with suspicion and hatred, and identified them as Zionist immigrants. Despite the general suspicion, however, one yeshiva student, Dov Cohen, still recalled being on "very good" terms with the Arab neighbors. He remembered yeshiva boys taking long walks late at night on the outskirts of the city, and not feeling afraid, even though only one British policeman guarded the entire city.

On Friday, August 23, 1929, that tranquility was lost. Arab youths started throwing rocks at the yeshiva students. That afternoon, one student, Shmuel Rosenholtz, went to the yeshiva alone. Arab rioters later broke in and killed him, and that was only the beginning.

Friday night, Rabbi Ya’acov Slonim’s son invited any fearful Jews to stay in his house. The rabbi was highly regarded in the community, and he had a gun. Many Jews took him up on this offer, and many Jews were eventually murdered there.

As early as 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, Arabs began to gather en masse. They came in mobs, armed with clubs, knives and axes. While the women and children threw stones, the men ransacked Jewish houses and destroyed Jewish property. With only a single police officer in Hebron, the Arabs entered Jewish courtyards with no opposition.

Rabbi Slonim, who had tried to shelter the Jewish population, was approached by the rioters and offered a deal. If all the Ashkenazi yeshiva students were given over to the Arabs, the rioters would spare the lives of the Sephardi community. Rabbi Slonim refused to turn over the students and was killed on the spot. In the end, 12 Sephardi Jews and 55 Ashkenazi Jews were murdered.

A few Arabs did try to help the Jews. Nineteen Arab families saved dozens, maybe even hundreds of Jews. Zmira Mani wrote about an Arab named Abu Id Zaitoun who brought his brother and son to rescue her and her family. The Arab family protected the Manis with their swords, hid them in a cellar along with other Jews who they had saved, and found a policeman to escort them safely to the police station at Beit Romano.

The police station turned into a shelter for the Jews that morning of August 24. It also became a synagogue as the Orthodox Jews gathered there and said their morning prayers. As they finished praying, they began to hear noises outside the building. Thousands of Arabs descended from Har Hebron, shouting "Kill the Jews!" in Arabic. They even tried to break down the doors of the station.

The Jews were besieged in Beit Romano for three days. Each night, ten men were allowed to leave to attend a funeral in Hebron’s ancient Jewish cemetery for the murdered Jews of the day.

When the massacre finally ended, the surviving Jews were forced to leave their home city and resettled in Jerusalem. Some Jewish families tried to move back to Hebron, but were removed by the British authorities in 1936 at the start of the Arab revolt. In 1948, the War of Independence granted Israel statehood, but further cut the Jews off from Hebron, a city that was captured by King Abdullah's Arab Legion and ultimately annexed to Jordan.

When Jews finally gained control of the city in 1967, a small number of massacre survivors again tried to reclaim their old houses. Then defense minister Moshe Dayan supposedly told the survivors that if they returned, they would be arrested, and that they should be patient while the government worked out a solution to get their houses back. Years later, settlers moved to parts of Hebron without the permission of the government, but for those massacre survivors still seeking their original homes, that solution never came.

From Zionism-Israel

The Hebron Massacre of 1929

In August of 1929, Arabs instigated violence in the Jerusalem area that spread to most of Palestine. The violence began in Jerusalem and soon spread to Hebron, Motza, and Safed, all old Jewish communities in Palestine that supposedly lived in harmony with their Arab neighbors, rather than Zionist settlements.

In Hebron, the Jewish community which had been there for hundreds of years, refused the help proffered by the Haganah underground when it seemed that Arab agitation was beginning. They trusted their neighbors.

The principle instigators were Haj Amin El Husseini and Aref el Aref. Aref el Aref, along with Husseini, had been responsible for previous riots. He had now been appointed district officer of the Beersheba district. Aref el Aref paid a visit to Hebron shortly before the riots and preached an inflammatory sermon on Thursday, August 22. Rumors were spread that the Jews had killed Arabs in Jerusalem, that the Jews had burned down the Al-Aqsa mosque (supposedly this was documented with a fake photo) or that the Jews were planning to build a synagogue near the wailing wall.

There are many indications that the Arabs, as well as the British had advance warning of the disturbances, yet the British did nothing to try to head them off. There was one British policeman in Hebron, Raymond Cafferata. He commanded a force of 18 mounted police and 15 on foot. Of these, all but one were Arabs. Eleven were over age and there was but a single Jew among them.

Beginning about 3 PM on Friday, August 23, there was agitation in Hebron. People returning from prayers in Jerusalem were claiming that the Jews were killing Arabs there. Arabs began stoning the Hebron Yeshiva. An orthodox Yeshiva student tried to leave the Yeshiva building and was stabbed to death. Cafferata now managed to quiet things down for the present.

The riots began in earnest, however, on the morning of Saturday, August 24. Arabs killed 64 to 67 Jews in Hebron and wounded many others. Babies were beheaded. Old rabbis were castrated. There were incidents of rape, torture and mutilation. Hands and fingers were torn off bodies, apparently for jewelry.

Cafferata and the Jewish policeman shot at the rioters and killed 8 of them. The Arab policemen fired in the air. Cafferata called for reinforcements, but these arrived only about noon, five hours later. The British had a total of 292 police in Palestine and were busy dealing with disturbances elsewhere presumably. Cafferata, not a friend of the Jews, testified:

"On hearing screams in a room I went up a sort of tunnel passage and saw an Arab in the act of cutting off a child's head with a sword. He had already hit him and was having another cut, but on seeing me he tried to aim the stroke at me, but missed; he was practically on the muzzle of my rifle. I shot him low in the groin. Behind him was a Jewish woman smothered in blood with a man I recognized as a[n Arab] police constable named Issa Sherif from Jaffa in mufti. He was standing over the woman with a dagger in his hand. He saw me and bolted into a room close by and tried to shut me out-shouting in Arabic, "Your Honor, I am a policeman." ... I got into the room and shot him."
(Bernard Wasserstein, The British in Palestine: The Mandatory Government and the Arab-Jewish Conflict 1917-1929, Oxford England, Basil Blackwell, 1991)

About 435 Jews survived by hiding with their Arab neighbors. They were hidden by 28 families who risked their lives to save the Jews.

About noon, British reinforcements arrived. Arab prisoners were forced to bury the dead in mass graves. They starting singing in celebration during the proceedings.

After visiting Hebron, the High Commissioner John Chancellor wrote to his son:

I do not think that history records many worse horrors in the last few hundred years...

I am so tired and disgusted with this country and everything concerned with it that I only want to leave it as soon as I can.

The surviving Jews were evacuated by the British, but some returned and lived in Hebron until the riots of 1936.

May Their Souls Be Bound in the Bonds of Eternal Life

13th Av - R' Noson Nota Shapira

Yesterday (Shabbat) was the yarzheit of the 'Megaleh Amukos' - R' Noson Nota Shapira (all of those words have alternate spellings - figure it out for yourself). He was one of the more famous kabalists, who wrote on many different areas of Torah. He is probably best known for his commentary on Chumash.

This is what Nehura has to say about him.

Rabbi Natan Neta Shapira - 'Megale Amukot'

Born: Poland, 1585

Died: Cracow, Poland, 1633

Kabbalist, and chief rabbi of Cracow.

Rabbi Natan Neta is better known as 'Megale Amukot' - revealer of the depths, the title of his main work. In 'Megale Amukot' he writes 252 commentaries on Moses's pleading before G-d to be allowed to enter the land of Israel.

Rabbi Natan Neta disseminated the kabbalistic teachings of the Ari in Poland. Thousands of people followed him as a teacher.

On the tomb stone of Rabbi Natan Neta, it says that "Eliyahu HaNavie (Elijah the Prophet) spoke to him face to face."

Rabbi Chaim of Tzanz said about Rabbi Natan Neta, that his powers were so great, that when someone would just mention before him the name of a sick person, that person was immediately healed.

Deah v'Dibur (aka Yated Neeman) have a long article on him, which may contain some facts. Here are the first few paragraphs. You decide whether it is worth reading more:

Rebbe Nosson Neta Shapira zt'l, the author of Megaleh Amukos

370 years from his petiroh -- 13 Av, 5393

Cracow, in southern Poland southwest of Warsaw, was a leading Torah city in learning and observance for many generations. It was the home of Torah giants who were pillars of Torah and halochoh. Among these was the gaon, kodosh and mekubol HaRav Nosson Neta Shapira zt'l, who was world famous as the author of the Megaleh Amukos.

R' Nosson Neta was blessed with rare talents. His diligence and labor in Torah study were limitless, and his phenomenal memory astounded everyone.

When he was twenty years old his father-in-law, the gvir R' Moshe Eberless, introduced him to a Polish noble who wanted for himself to see the young illui's recall of what he heard. The aristocrat read him an entire book written in French, a language totally unknown to R' Nosson Neta. In the middle of the reading, which took a very long time, R' Nosson Neta rested his head on his arm. The noble thought R' Nosson Neta had fallen asleep, and he asked him in Polish: "Have you fallen asleep?" Rabbeinu nodded his head from side to side to signal that he had not. The noble continued reading the book until its very end.

Then he asked R' Nosson Neta to retell by heart the whole book. This apparently illogical demand didn't bother Rabbeinu at all. He repeated the whole book, word for word, and he even repeated the question, "Have you fallen asleep?" in exactly the place where the noble originally asked him that question.

At the age of thirty, Rabbenu became rosh yeshiva of the Cracow Yeshiva, one of the most famed yeshivos of the day. This yeshiva was founded by HaRav Yaakov Pollack, the father of the pilpul method of Torah study, which had proven its tremendous usefulness in better understanding the Torah.

The way R' Nosson Neta studied amazed everyone. His son R' Shlomoh writes: "Hashem gave him a heart of deep understanding and capability to relate to others what he had read in seforim and what he was taught by others. Within his extensive memory, which is incomparable to that of anyone living today, one can find all the works of the Rishonim and Acharonim besides the Talmud Bavli and Yerushalmi. He would repeat verbatim to his cherished talmidim excerpts from gemoras with the commentaries, the Rif and the Tur, teshuvos and other poskim. No reference existed that he was not proficient in . . . and when he would study with his attentive talmidim flames of fire would burst from him. He transformed these talmidim into Torah giants."