Meir Eisenstaedter (Meir ben Judah Leib Eisenstädter, 1780-1852) was a Hungarian

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Talmudist 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 center ...

, and '' paytan'' (liturgic poet). He is best known as the author of ''Imre Esh'' (''Words of Fire''), the collection of his responsa published by his son in 1864. Eisenstaedter was also known as Maharam Asch (a

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 ...

acronym for "Morenu ha-Rav Meir Eisenshtadt" meaning "our teacher, Rabbi Meir Eisenstadt"), Meir Gyamath, and Meir Ungvar after his later rabbinates.

Life

Eisenstaedter studied at the Mattersdorf

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are st ...

in Nagymarton,

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

under Moses Schreiber, a renowned rabbi who later became the chief rabbi of Pressburg (Pozsony, now Bratislava in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

). In his youth Eisenstaedter moved to Kismarton (now Eisenstadt,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

), from which he took his name. Eisenstaedter was called to the Baja rabbinate in 1807, where he directed a large yeshiva. He was the intimate friend of Rabbi Götz Schwerin Kohn, who later became the Chief Rabbi of

Bács County BACS is the Bankers Automated Clearing Services, a scheme for the electronic processing of financial transactions. BACS or Bács may also refer to: Organisations * Bay Area Christian School, in League City, Texas, US * Boston Archdiocesan Choir ...

. When Schwerin's father-in-law was ruined, forcing Schwerin to seek a rabbinate, Eisenstaedter voluntarily reassigned to him the office at Baja, and on the recommendation of the Chatam Sofer, obtained a position for himself at Balassagyarmat, where he served between 1815 and 1835. In 1835 he moved to Ungvár, where he held the position of the Chief Rabbi at a large yeshiva until his death. Eisenstaedter took an active part in Hungarian Jewish communal life and many of the future rabbis of Hungary were his pupils. He vehemently opposed progressives who desired to introduce religious changes and reforms. The greatest rabbis of Hungary and Galicia including Solomon Kluger of

Brody Brody ( uk, Броди; russian: Броды, Brodï; pl, Brody; german: Brody; yi, בראָד, Brod) is a city in Zolochiv Raion of Lviv Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It is located in the valley of the upper Styr River, approximately ...

, Ḥayyim Halberstam of Neu Sandec ( Nowy Sacz in Poland), and Simon Sofer of Cracow addressed their problems to him. Rabbi

Shlomo Ganzfried Shlomo Ganzfried (or ''Salomon ben Joseph Ganzfried''; 1804 in Ungvár – 30 July 1886 in Ungvár) was an Orthodox rabbi and posek best known as the author of the work of Halakha (Jewish law), the ''Kitzur Shulchan Aruch'' (Hebrew: קיצ ...

, author of the '' Kitzur Shulchan Aruch'' served as '' dayan'' (rabbinic judge) during this time in Ungvár. Eisenstaedter was married to the daughter of

David Deutsch David Elieser Deutsch ( ; born 18 May 1953) is a British physicist at the University of Oxford. He is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Atomic and Laser Physics at the Centre for Quantum Computation (CQC) in the Clarendon Laboratory of ...

, the rabbi of Vágújhely (now

Nové Mesto nad Váhom Nové Mesto nad Váhom (; german: Neustadt an der Waag, Neustadtl, Waag-Neustadtl, Waagneustadtl, Waag-Neustadt; hu, Vágújhely, Vág-Újhely) is a town in the Trenčín Region of Slovakia. Geography District town located at the northern edge ...

), where he was head of the yeshiva at the time. Eisenstaedter died on 16 January 1852 (24

Tevet Tevet ( he, טֵבֵת, ''Ṭevet''; ; from Akkadian ) is the fourth month of the civil year and the tenth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. It follows Kislev and precedes Shevat. It is a month of 29 days. Tevet usually occ ...

, 5612). His son Menachem replaced him as head of his yeshiva.

Works

Eisenstaedter's major work is called ''Imrei Esh'' (''Words of Fire''). The title is a

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

on the abbreviation of Eisenstadt, as E.S means "fire" in Hebrew. ''Imrei Esh'' contains his responsa (rabbinic answers to

halachic ''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 comman ...

, i.e. Jewish religious questions) and was published by his son in two parts. Other works: *''Imrei Yosher'' (''Words of Honesty'') consisted of sermons and was published in Ungvár in 1864. *'' Imrei Binah'' (''Words of Wisdom'') was a halachic novella about the

Seder The Passover Seder (; he, סדר פסח , 'Passover order/arrangement'; yi, סדר ) is a ritual feast at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew c ...

s of '' Mo'ed'' and '' Nashim''. It was published in 1866. *''Imrei Esh'' comments and notes on the

weekly Torah portion It is a custom among religious Jewish communities for a weekly Torah portion to be read during Jewish prayer services on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. The full name, ''Parashat HaShavua'' ( he, פָּרָשַׁת הַשָּׁבוּעַ), is p ...

and the ''

Haggadah The Haggadah ( he, הַגָּדָה, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table is a fulfillment of the mitzvah to each J ...

'' of

Pesach Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the The Exodus, Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or ...

References

External links

Meïir Eisenstadter
at jewishencyclopedia.com
Ash
at jewishencyclopedia.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Eisenstaedter 1780 births 1852 deaths 19th-century Hungarian rabbis Hungarian Orthodox rabbis Clergy from Uzhhorod