Israel Meir Kagan

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Israel Meir Kagan,
called Chafetz Chajim, 1929.

Israel Meir Kagan ( Israel Meir Ha-Kohen , actually Pupko ; * February 6, 1839 in Dziatlava , Yiddish Zhetl, today in Belarus ; † September 15, 1933 in Radun , Belarusian SSR ), called Chafetz Chajim or Chofetz Chajim ( Hebrew חָפֵץ חַיִּים) - after the title of his first work - was a scholar, ethicist, and an Eastern European rabbinical authority of Orthodox Judaism . He left behind over 20 works, the best known is his six-volume commentary on Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chajim): Mishnah Berurah , which is still binding for strictly religious Ashkenazi Jews to this day.

Life

Israel Meir Kagan was born in Zhetl, a Jewish Stetl a good 150 km east of Grodno , which belonged to Poland-Lithuania until the partitions of Poland and was subsequently in the Russian Paleon of Settlement . He was tutored by his parents until he was ten. After the early death of his father, he moved with his mother to Vilnius , where he continued his studies at a Talmud high school. After his marriage to his stepfather's daughter , he lived in Radun, a small town south of Vilna, about half of which was Jewish.

Yeshiva in Radun,
called Chafetz Chajim Yeshiva

Kagan probably never served as a rabbi, even if some sources indicate a brief activity as a rabbi in Radun. He made a living from a small grocery store that was run by his wife, but in later years he was able to make a living from his publications. He devoted himself to study and worked as a teacher, especially the common people whom he encouraged to study the scriptures and to keep the commandments. He initially taught in Wassilischki ( Yiddish װאַסילישאָק, Wassilischok) and founded his own teaching house in Radun in 1869, which became known as "Chafetz Chajim Jeschiwa". Later he transferred the teaching activity to his sons-in-law and other scholars and devoted himself to educational and organizational questions, gave lectures and published his writings. During the First World War he fled to Russia and in 1921 returned to Radun, which was under Polish rule, to reopen its teaching houses.

The emigration of Eastern European Jews to the Land of Israel , which began at the end of the 19th century, gave him hope that the Messiah would arrive soon , which was intensified by the horrors of the First World War. Accordingly, in his yeshiva special attention was paid to the study of the sections of the Talmud that deal with the temple in Jerusalem ( Seder Qodaschim ), which, according to the Jewish opinion, will be rebuilt after the arrival of the Messiah.

Endeavoring to keep Jewish orthodoxy in Lithuania and internationally together, and as an opponent of political Zionism , he co-founded the Agudat Israel , whose first international conference he opened in Vienna in 1923, and participated in the establishment of a committee dedicated to the oppressed religious Jewish schools tried to help. Despite health problems, he was involved in Jewish affairs well into old age and commented on current issues in the Jewish press. He died in Radun in 1933 at the age of 95. The New York Times described him in its obituary as the "uncrowned spiritual king of Israel". The house in which he had lived in Radun was transported to the USA and rebuilt on the campus of the Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in Suffern, near New York . Many other Jewish schools and institutions also bear his name; in Palestine the first Orthodox kibbutz founded by the Agudat Israel in 1944 was named after him.

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Title page Chafetz Chajim ,
Vilna 1873

At the age of thirty-five he published his first work, Chafetz Chaijm , anonymously , in which he formulated clear religious rules against defamation, defamation and gossip (Hebrew laschon hara ). The title can be translated with that life wants , and comes from Psalm 34 : 13-14  SLT : “Who is the man who desires life ( ha Chafetz Chaim ), who wishes for days when he sees good? Protect your tongue from evil and your lips from deceiving ”. Kagan attached great importance to compliance with these laws and wrote a morning prayer for them. In a second book, Schmirat ha-Laschon , he published a sequel in 1876 with ethical and moral explanations of the importance of these laws.

He also wrote, among other things: Machaneh Israel (1881), a guide with practical regulations for Russian Jewish soldiers, Ahawat Hesed (1888) on interpersonal relationships, especially on questions of money and property, Neddechei Israel and Shem Olam (1893) for the Jews who emigrated to western countries, especially America, and wanted to remain true to the traditions, Taharat Israel (1910), on the purity regulations and Likutei Halachot (1899–1925), who deal with the temple service after the appearance of the Messiah.

His best-known work, which is still widespread and widely recognized in Ashkenazi Judaism, is his six-volume commentary on Shulchan Aruch Orach Chajim: Mishnah Berurah (German clear teaching 1884–1907), on which he, supported by his son and sons-in-law, more than has worked for twenty years. The Mishnah Berurah comments on the Orach Chajim part of Shulchan Aruch sentence by sentence. In addition to the text by Josef Karo , the author of the Schulchan Aruch , three classic commentaries are printed, and Kagan's own comment follows at the end. The Mishnah Berurah is also available in a more recent bilingual edition - Hebrew and English.

Fonts (selection)

  • Chafetz Chajim online , Wilna 1873
  • Machaneh Israel online , Warsaw 1881
  • Ahawat Hessed online , Warsaw 1888
  • Neddechei Israel online , Warsaw 1893
  • Schem Olam online Warsaw, 1893 and online , Warsaw 1897
  • Schmirat ha-Laschon , 1876 online , Warsaw 1895
  • Mishnah Berurah , 1884–1907
    • Mishnah Berurah; the classic commentary to Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim, comprising the laws of daily Jewish conduct by Yisroel Meir Ha-Cohen (the Chafetz Chayim) . An English translation of Shulchan Aruch and Mishnah Berurah with explanatory comments, notes, and facing Hebrew text; edited by Aharon Feldman and Aviel Orenstein; Pisgah Foundation, Jerusalem 1980-2002 [002875114]
  • Likutei Halachot 1st volume , 2nd volume , 3rd volume , 4th volume , Petersburg 1899–1925

literature

  • Benjamin Brown: Yisra'el Me'ir ha-Kohen . In: The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe (English)
  • Lester Samuel Eckman: Revered by All: The Life and Works of Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan - Hafets Hayyim (1838-1933) . Shengold Publishers, New York 1974, ISBN 0-88400-002-8 (English).
  • Mordechai Hacohen, David Derovan:  Israel Meir Ha-Kohen. In: Encyclopaedia Judaica . 2nd Edition. Volume 10, Detroit / New York a. a. 2007, ISBN 978-0-02-865938-1 , pp. 756-757 (English).
  • Kahan, Israel Me'ir . In: Jewish Lexicon . Vol. III, Jüdischer Verlag, Berlin 1928, Sp. 531 f. ( online ).
  • Kohen, Israel Maier . In: Salomon Wininger : Great Jewish National Biography. Vol. III, Orient Printing House, Czernowitz 1928, p. 485.
  • Mosheh Meʼir Yashar: Chafetz Chaim, the life and works of Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan of Radin . Mesorah Publications, Brooklyn (NY) 1984, ISBN 0-89906-462-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ There are numerous different forms of his names in different spellings
  2. ↑ Dzyatlava ( Memento of the original from July 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . JewishGen.com  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org
  3. ^ Dov Rabin, Shmuel Spector: Radun . In: Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (Eds.): Encyclopaedia Judaica . 2nd edition, Volume 17, Macmillan Reference USA, Detroit 2007. p. 59 Gale Virtual Reference Library (English)
  4. ↑ Chofetz Chaim, 105 Is Dead in Poland . The New York Times , September 16, 1933
  5. ↑ Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim

Web links

Commons : Israel Meir Kagan  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Kagan, Israel Meir
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chafetz Chaim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION orthodox rabbi
DATE OF BIRTH February 6, 1839
PLACE OF BIRTH Djatlava
DATE OF DEATH September 15, 1933
Place of death Radun (Belarus)