Yisroel ben Shmuel Ashkenazi of Shklov (c. 1770 – May 22, 1839) 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 ...
Talmudist, one of a group of Talmudical scholars of
Shklov who were attracted to
Vilna by Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, known as the
Vilna Gaon
Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, ( he , ר' אליהו בן שלמה זלמן ''Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman'') known as the Vilna Gaon (Yiddish: דער װילנער גאון ''Der Vilner Gaon'', pl, Gaon z Wilna, lt, Vilniaus Gaonas) or Elijah of ...
(1720–97). He was one of "the last arrivals," and attended upon the Gaon as a disciple for less than a year.
He gained the Vilna Gaon's confidence, and was chosen to arrange for publication the Gaon's commentary to the first two parts of the ''
Shulchan Aruch''. That on the ''
Orach Chaim'' was published in Shklov in 1803. Ashkenazi also published his master's notes to the tractate
Shekalim
Shekel or sheqel ( akk, 𒅆𒅗𒇻 ''šiqlu'' or ''siqlu,'' he, שקל, plural he, שקלים or shekels, Phoenician: ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly —and became c ...
of the
Jerusalem Talmud, with a commentary of his own, under the title ''Taklin Chadtin'' (Minsk, 1812). Later he emigrated to
Ottoman Syria
Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and south ...
and became the head of the German and Polish congregations of
Safed
Safed (known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as Tzfat; Sephardi Hebrew, Sephardic Hebrew & Modern Hebrew: צְפַת ''Tsfat'', Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation, Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Tzfas'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Ṣǝp̄aṯ''; ar, صفد, ''Ṣafad''), i ...
and then of
Jerusalem. He was there surnamed "
Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
" (the "German"), a name applied to all Jews of German extraction, in contradistinction to the
Sephardim, who came originally from
Spain or
Portugal.
After a residence of several years in the Holy Land, Ashkenazi went to
Europe as a
ShaDaR
A ''meshulach'' (; plural: ''meshulachim''), also known as a ''shaliach'' () or SHaDaR (, acronym for ), was an emissary sent to the Diaspora to raise funds ('' ḥalukka'') for the Jewish communities of the Land of Israel. In recent times, the te ...
(emissary of the rabbis), to collect alms for the poor
Palestinian Jew
Palestinian Jews or Jewish Palestinians were the Jewish inhabitants of the Palestine region (known in Hebrew as ''Eretz Yisrael'', ) prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
The common term used to refer to the Jewish commun ...
s residing at the
Yishuv haYashan, and in that capacity he traveled through
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 ...
and other parts of what was then
Russian Empire.
On his return to Palestine he wrote his chief work, ''Pe'at ha-Shulchan,'' which is intended as a sort of supplement to the ''Shulchan Aruch'', supplying all the agricultural laws obligatory only in the Holy Land, omitted by rabbi
Joseph Caro in his code. He also incorporated in this book the notes of Elijah of Vilna (the Gaon) to the tractate
Zera'im
Seder Zeraim ( he, סדר זרעים, Seder Zra'im, lit. "Order of Seeds") is the first of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta, and the Talmud, and, apart from the first tractate which concerns the rules for prayers and bles ...
, the first order of the
Mishnah, and gave in addition a voluminous commentary of his own which he called ''Beit Yisrael.'' The work was published in Safed in 1836 by the printing-house of
Yisrael ben Avraham Back
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.
Ashkenazi is also the author of ''Nachalah u-Menuchah,'' a collection of
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 ...
mentioned in the work above. An account of his rabbinate of Jerusalem is given in
Mendel ben Aaron Mendel may refer to:
People
* Mendel (name), includes a list of people with the name
:*Gregor Mendel (1822–1884), the "father of modern genetics"
* Mendel (Hungarian family), a prominent Hungarian family that flourished in the 15th century
* Yidd ...
's ''Kore ha-'Ittim'' (Vilna, 1840). Ashkenazi died at
Tiberias on May 22, 1839.
References
;Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
*Heschel Lewin, '' 'Aliyyat Eliyahu,'' p. 74, Wilna, 1854, and Stettin, 1862;
*
Fuenn, ''Keneset Yisrael,'' s.v. Israel ben Samuel;
*
Fürst, Bibl. Jud. i. 63;
*
Eliezer of Botushan, ''Ḳin'at Soferim,'' 1892, s.v. Elijah Wilna.
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shklov, Yisroel ben Shmuel of
1770s births
1839 deaths
19th-century Lithuanian rabbis
Ashkenazi rabbis in Ottoman Palestine
Rabbis in Safed
19th-century rabbis from the Ottoman Empire
Burials at the Old Jewish Cemetery, Tiberias
People from Shklow