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 ...
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, one of a group of Talmudical scholars of
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 ...
who were attracted to
Vilna
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional u ...
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
The ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך , literally: "Set Table"), sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in Is ...
''. That on the ''
Orach Chaim
Orach Chayim, (''manner/way of life'') is a section of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation of Halakha (Jewish law), Arba'ah Turim. This section addresses aspects of Jewish law pertinent to the Hebrew calendar (be it the daily, weekly, monthly, or ...
'' was published in Shklov in 1803. Ashkenazi also published his master's notes to the tractate
Shekalim of the
Jerusalem Talmud
The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century ...
, 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
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. 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
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...
, who came originally from
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
or
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
.
After a residence of several years in the Holy Land, Ashkenazi went to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
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 ...
(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
The Old Yishuv ( he, היישוב הישן, ''haYishuv haYashan'') were the Jewish communities of the southern Syrian provinces in the Ottoman period, up to the onset of Zionist aliyah and the consolidation of the New Yishuv by the end of World ...
, 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
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. ...
.
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
Joseph ben Ephraim Karo, also spelled Yosef Caro, or Qaro ( he, יוסף קארו; 1488 – March 24, 1575, 13 Nisan 5335 A.M.), was the author of the last great codification of Jewish law, the '' Beit Yosef'', and its popular analogue, the ''Shu ...
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
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 ...
, 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
* Yi ...
's ''Kore ha-'Ittim'' (Vilna, 1840). Ashkenazi died at
Tiberias
Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Fo ...
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