Eleazar Low

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Eleasar Löw , called Schemen Rokeach , (born 1758 in Loslau , Upper Silesia ; died on February 2, 1837 in Santovka , Bars County , Austrian Empire ) was a Polish rabbi and Talmud scholar. The main source of the dates of his life is a biography that his grandson Lazar Münz wrote after his father's stories about Eleazar Löw. Lazar Münz (1837–1921) was the son of Arje Löb (also: Löbl Münz, died February 11, 1891), who in turn was the youngest son of Eleasar Löw.

Eleazar Low, called Schemen Rokeach

Life

Childhood and Youth 1758–1778

Eleasar Löw, also Eleazar Löw, (Hebrew: אלעזר ליב) was born in Loslau , Upper Silesia , in 1758 , as the son of Lea Reize and Rabbi Arje Löb. His paternal grandfather was the well-known rabbi and scholar Pinchas Selig, the author of the work Ateret Pos (Hebrew: עטרת פז).

Eleazar Löw was initially trained at home by his father and by private tutors. At the age of eight he began to study in his grandfather Pinchas Selig's house in Łask . The Pilpul method, which was modern at the time, was not used in this teaching house . Rather, emphasis was placed on a straightforward, simple path of thought and research that tries to determine only the truth with common sense.

At the age of 16, Eleasar Löw received the rabbinical diploma from the rabbinical college in Łask and returned to his parents in Loslau in 1774. In 1775 Eleazar Löw married his first wife, was appointed rabbinate assistant and later chairman of the rabbinate college.

Rabbi in Pilica 1778–1800

Before Eleazar Loew had reached the age of twenty, he was called to Pilica as a rabbi .

Eleazar Löw's first wife died in 1792, leaving him with six small children, three boys and three girls. In 1793 Eleazar Löw married Rebekka Ester, the daughter of Rabbi Isak Abraham (author of Keter Kehunna, Hebrew: כתר כהונה) from Pińczów .

Through his first wife Eleazar Loew had come into possession of a large fortune. To manage these assets he had appointed a manager who invested the assets in bonds of the Polish state. When Poland in 1793 and 1795 under its neighbors Russia , Prussia and Austria split was, it looked at first as if these bonds were worth nothing and the entire fortune was lost. Russia later decided to redeem all of Poland's bonds, but Eleazar Löw did not notice. His former manager turned up at his house, took hold of these supposedly worthless bonds and disappeared with them. In this way Eleazar Loew lost his fortune twice in a row, so to speak.

The collapse of the Kingdom of Poland was connected with internal unrest and the impoverishment of the Pilica community, where Eleazar Löw was a rabbi. When Poland was partitioned, Piliza fell to Russia and nearby Krakow to Austria, which led to the impoverishment of Piliza, the Jewish community and the rabbi.

Rabbi in Triesch 1800–1812

In 1800 Eleazar Löw moved to Triesch (Czech: Třešť ) in Moravia and became a rabbi there. There he founded a yeshiva that had 100 to 200 students.

In Triesch, Eleasar Löw married his daughter Ester to Rabbi Samuel Kohn, called Samuel Kostelhore, who was the district rabbi for Pilsen and Klatovy in Poběžovice .

Rabbi in Poběžovice 1812–1815

In 1812 his son-in-law, Rabbi Samuel Kohn, died, and the position of the district rabbi of Pilsen and Klattau, based in Poběžovice, became vacant. Rabbi Eleazar Löw accepted a call for this position, moved with his family to Poběžovice and in 1812 became the district rabbi of Pilsen and Klattau, which significantly improved his financial situation.

His daughter Ester, widow of Samuel Kohn, later married Rabbi Elia Bloch from Poběžovice. From this marriage Rabbi Moses Löb Bloch emerged.

Encouraged by the Synod of Four Countries , Eleazar Löw traveled twice a year to the major masses in Pilsen, where he made himself available to arbitrate legal matters. Trade fair visitors who had any concerns or questions about religion or community matters could turn to him there.

Return to Triesch for six years: 1815–1821

In 1815 Eleazar Löw returned to Triesch at the urging of his old community in Triesch, who had not been able to find a new rabbi.

In 1819 there was a conflagration in Triesch, as a result of which the Jewish community became very impoverished and had difficulties in maintaining the rabbi and the yeshiva. In addition, there was a law in Bohemia and Moravia from 1745 limiting the number of Jews (20,000 families in Bohemia and 5,100 families in Moravia) so that Eleazar Löw's two younger sons were not allowed to marry or start families . This led to Eleazar Löw accepting an offer in the municipality of Liptau Szent-Miklos (then Hungary, now Slovakia) in 1821 . Eleazar Löw also received a call from the city of Fürth in 1821, which he could not accept because he had already promised himself to be in Miklos.

Rabbi in Liptau Szent-Miklos 1821–1830

Eleazar Löw founded a yeshiva in Miklos, which had around 200 students.

Teaching rules at the yeshiva: On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, Eleazar Löw gave lectures for the students of the yeshiva. On Thursday and Friday, parishioners who knew the Talmud were also allowed to attend these lectures. On the Sabbath, he gave an in-depth lecture to all Talmudic scholars in the ward on Thursday and Friday.

The students of the yeshiva were divided into two classes: a lower class, which still had to be introduced to the understanding of the Talmud, and an upper class, which was charged with introducing the lower class. The upper class students who studied with the lower class students were called Chasur-Bachur. On Wednesday, all lower-grade students were examined by the rabbi. All students from both the lower and upper grades were present. If a student could not answer a question correctly, the rabbi gave him a light prank as a punishment and the upper class student responsible for him had to answer the question. This examination method encouraged both classes to learn.

Rabbi in Szántó 1830–1837

In 1830 Eleazar Löw accepted a call to Szántó (then Hungary, now Slovakia) and became a rabbi there.

In 1833 Eleazar Löw went blind.

Eleazar Löw died on February 2, 1837 at the age of 79 in Szántó and was buried there. As a funerary inscription Eleazar Löw had stipulated in his will: "The well-known Rabbi Rabbi Eleazar rests here."

Works

In 1788 Eleazar Löw published Part 1 of the Rokeach Scheme, a collection of rabbinical reports. At that time it was uncommon for scholarly Jewish works to name oneself as an author. There was also the custom of naming the author after his work. Schemen Rokeach (German: oil of the spice mixer, Hebrew: שמן רקח; Schemen = oil) stands for the doctrine and the word Rokeach has the same numerical value , namely 308, like the word Eleazar: "Doctrine of Eleazar". Eleazar = אלעזר = 200 + 7 + 70 + 30 + 1 = 308, Rokeach = רקח = 8 + 100 + 200 = 308. After this work, Eleazar Löw was called Schemen Rokeach .

In 1796 Eleazar Löw published his second work: Sama de Chaje (Hebrew: סמא דחיי), a collection of sermons and lectures. Eleazar Löw had already completed this book in 1788. But since he had to pay for the printing of his books himself, he could not have this book printed until 1796 because of the financial difficulties mentioned above.

In 1800 the publication of Thorat Chesed (Hebrew: תורת חסד) followed. In this work, Eleazar Löw discussed principles of the Talmud and principles that apply to halachic decisions.

In 1800 Eleazar Loew published a revised and annotated version of the Gaon Hai.

In 1802 Eleazar Löw published the second part of the Rokeach scheme.

In 1807 he published Scheb Schemateta (Hebrew: שב שמעתתא) on rules in the teaching of the Talmud. Here is a quote from the introduction to this work: “I saw that the knowledge of the Torah is unfortunately diminishing, Israel is impoverished, and those who long for the teaching and strive for salvation, the Torah disciples, look for food and nobody prepares it for them; they feel like the blind in the dark, and each one erects his own altar. So they sail around on the sea of ​​the Talmud, like a ship on the high seas that is without an oar, without a guide and threatens to fail. ”The Scheb Schemateta also contains a short text with eight lectures under the title Gates of the Fear of God (Hebrew : Schaare Jirea, שערי יראה). It exhorts the reader to a pious, virtuous, strictly regulated way of life according to the laws of the Torah.

In 1812 the publication of Chidusche Hilchot Schemen Rokeach (Hebrew: חידושי הלכות שמן רקח) with explanations on the Talmud followed. Since the printing costs had risen sharply due to a famine and Eleazar Löw's funds were insufficient to print the entire book, he had to shorten it considerably and was only able to publish three instead of the intended six tracts.

1814 Publication of the work Jabin Schemua (Hebrew: יבין שמועה) with easily understandable Hagadian lectures on individual weekly segments that he had given to the communities in the Pilsen and Klattau districts.

In 1828 the second part of the Schaare Dea came out. This had been lost in the print shop; Eleazar Löw had to write it again from memory.

Another book called Orchat Mishpat (Hebrew: ארחות משפט) was also lost. The second elaboration burned in the fire in Triesch together with Eleasar Löw's library of over 1200 volumes.

In 1885 he published the work Maaße Rikeach (Hebrew: מעשה רקח) with glosses and marginal notes on the Orach Chaim .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, pp. III, IV
  2. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, pp. 8-10
  3. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 8
  4. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 11
  5. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 13
  6. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 14
  7. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 15
  8. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 21
  9. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 23
  10. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, pp. 25, 26
  11. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, pp. 24, 25, 34
  12. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 39
  13. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 41
  14. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 44
  15. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 55
  16. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 55 below note 68
  17. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, pp. 56, 57
  18. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, pp. 76–79
  19. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 86
  20. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, pp. 86, 87
  21. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 87
  22. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 89
  23. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, pp. 89, 90
  24. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 90
  25. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 113
  26. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 130
  27. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, pp. 140, 141
  28. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 150
  29. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, pp. 18, 19
  30. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 27
  31. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 32
  32. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 36
  33. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 42
  34. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 46
  35. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 49
  36. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, pp. 52, 53
  37. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 54
  38. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 58
  39. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 105
  40. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, pp. 105, 106
  41. ↑ Lazar Münz: Rabbi Eleazar, called Schemen Rokeach. A biography. , Trier, 1895, Verlag Sigmund Mayer, p. 134
personal data
SURNAME Low, Eleazar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rokeach, schemes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Rabbi and Talmudic scholar
DATE OF BIRTH 1758
PLACE OF BIRTH Loslau , Upper Silesia
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 1837
Place of death Szántó