Joshua Zeitlin (1742 in

Shklov Shklow ( be, Шклоў, ; Škłoŭ; russian: link=no, Шклов, ''Shklov''; yi, שקלאָוו, ''Shklov'', lt, Šklovas, pl, Szkłów) is a town in Mogilev Region, Belarus, located north of Mogilev on the Dnieper river. It has a railway s ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

– August 18, 1822, in

Kherson Kherson (, ) is a port city of Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers appr ...

Novorossiya Novorossiya, literally "New Russia", is a historical name, used during the era of the Russian Empire for an administrative area that would later become the southern mainland of Ukraine: the region immediately north of the Black Sea and Crimea. ...

) was a Russian

rabbinical Rabbinic Judaism ( he, יהדות רבנית, Yahadut Rabanit), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, or Judaism espoused by the Rabbanites, has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Babylonian ...

scholar and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

. He was a pupil 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 ...

ist Rabbi

Aryeh Leib ben Asher Gunzberg Aryeh Leib ben Asher Ginzburg (or Wallerstein) ( he, אריה ליב גינסבורג) ( 1695 – June 23, 1785), also known as the Shaagas Aryeh, was a Lithuanian rabbi and author. Life Born in Lithuania, c. 1695, he was a Rabbinical casuist. ...

who was the author of ''Sha'agat Aryeh''; and, being an expert in political economy, he maintained close relations with

Prince Potemkin Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ;, rus, Князь Григо́рий Алекса́ндрович Потёмкин-Таври́ческий, Knjaz' Grigórij Aleksándrovich Potjómkin-Tavrícheskij, ɡrʲɪˈɡ ...

, the favorite of

Catherine II , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...

. During the Turko-Russian war, Zeitlin furnished the

Russian army The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска �В Sukhoputnyye voyska V, also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Gro ...

with various supplies, and managed that business so cleverly that he was afterward appointed imperial court councilor. On retiring from business in the

civil rank Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

of Court Counsellor, Zeitlin resided on his estate ''Ustzia'', where he was occasionally consulted by rabbis with regard to rabbinical questions. He rendered pecuniary assistance to many Talmudists and scholars, and supported a magnificent

beit midrash A ''beth midrash'' ( he, בית מדרש, or ''beis medrash'', ''beit midrash'', pl. ''batei midrash'' "House of Learning") is a hall dedicated for Torah study, often translated as a "study hall." It is distinct from a synagogue (''beth kness ...

, in which many Jewish scholars were provided with all of life's necessities, so that they could pursue their vocations without worries of any kind. Among the scholars who benefited from his generosity were: Rabbi Nahum, author of '' Tosafot Bikkurim''; Mendel Lepin, author of ''Cheshbon ha-Nefesh''; and the physician Baruch Schick. Zeitlin was the author of annotations to the ''Sefer Mitzwot Katan'', printed with the text (Kopys, 1820), and supplemented by some of his ''

responsa ''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars i ...

''.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zeitlin, Joshua 1742 births 1822 deaths Belarusian Orthodox rabbis 18th-century rabbis from the Russian Empire 19th-century rabbis from the Russian Empire Jewish philanthropists