Alexander Ziskind Maimon (July 18, 1809 - July 12, 1887) was a

Lithuanian Jewish Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent areas o ...

author and scholar of the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

and

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...

. Maimon was born in

Seirijai Seirijai is a small town in Alytus County in southern Lithuania. In 2011 it had a population of 788. Etymology Seirijai toponym came from the lake ''Seirijis'', which got its name from the creek ''Seira'' name of which is of Dainavian dielect o ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

to a family who claimed agnatic descent from

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...

. His commentaries on biblical literature, Mishnah, Talmud and

Halacha ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

were publicized from his younger years and throughout his life. He was a writer for ''

HaMagid ''Hamagid'' (; ), also known after 1893 as ''Hamagid LeIsrael'' (), was the first Hebrew language weekly newspaper. It featured mostly current events, feature articles, a section on Judaic studies, and, in its heyday, discussions of social issues. ...

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

newspaper, known by the acronym of his and his father's name - AZBRMM (Alexander Ziskind ben Rabbi Moshe Maimon). His daughter's tombstone refers to him as "Maimon from Seirijai". In 1872 he is mentioned as "Rabbi Ziskind Maimon" in ''HaMagid'' in a list of people from Seirijai who donated to the Persian relief effort. In his later years, Maimon lived in

Kelmė Kelmė (; is a city in northwestern Lithuania, a historical region of Samogitia. It has a population of 8,206 and is the administrative center of the Kelmė district municipality. History Kelmė's name may come from the Lithuanian ''kelmynės'', ...

and began writing his book ''Kovetz Maamariam ve'Inianim Shonim''. The book was published by his family in 1894, following his death, and in it were many reprinted articles and researches he had written. He is referred to in Berl Kagan's book ''Jewish Cities, Towns & Villages in Lithuania'' (New York: 1991) as: "An author, scholar, philanthropist, and man of affairs."As reprinted in Landsman, Vol. 2, Nos 2&3 (Double issue- Fall-Winter, 1991-92) Maimon's grandson, Moshe Maimon, was a noted artist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maimon, Alexander Ziskind 1809 births 1887 deaths People from Lazdijai District Municipality Lithuanian Jews Talmudists Commentaries on the Mishnah Writers from the Russian Empire Hebrew-language writers Jewish writers 19th-century writers from the Russian Empire