Everything about Meir Simcha Of Dvinsk totally explained
Rabbi
Meir Simcha of Dvinsk (
1843-
1926) was a
rabbi and prominent leader of
Orthodox Judaism in
Eastern Europe in the early
20th century. He was a
kohen, and is therefore often referred to as
Meir Simcha ha-Kohen ("Meir Simcha the Kohen"). He is known for his writings on the
Mishneh Torah, titled
Ohr Somayach, and his novellae on the
Torah, titled
Meshech Chochma.
Biography
Meir Simcha was born in
Butrimonys (
Yiddish: Baltrimantz),
Lithuania, to Samson Kalonymus, a local wealthy merchant. According to family tradition, his later success in
Torah study was attributed to two blessings his parents had received from local rabbis before his birth.
He received his education locally, and managed to hide from the regular roundups of Jewish boys that were being held as a result of the
Cantonist decrees that had been in effect since
1827.
After marrying in
1860, at age 17, he settled in
Białystok,
Poland, where he was supported by his father-in-law while continuing his
Talmudic studies. After 23 years there he finally, after turning down many offers, accepted the rabbinate of the
mitnagdim (non-
Hasidic Jews) in the
Latvian town of Dvinsk, now known as
Daugavpils. He would remain in the position until his death.
In Dvinsk, his counterpart was the Hasidic Rabbi Yosef Rosen, known as the
Rogatchover Gaon or by his work
Tzofnath Paneach. The two had a great respect for each other, despite Rosen's legendary fiery temper, and on occasions referred questions in
Jewish law to each other. They also shared a love for the works of
Maimonides.
In
1906, a certain Shlomo Friedlander published two tractates of the
Jerusalem Talmud that had been considered lost for hundreds of years. Rabbi Meir Simcha (as well as the
Gerer Rebbe, Rabbi
Moshe Shmuel Glasner of Klausenburg, the Dor Revi'i, and Rabbi Dr Yissachar Dov Ritter of
Rotterdam) was one of the few who discovered that the work was a very clever forgery.
In Dvinsk, he received visitors from the whole region, and was frequently consulted on issues affecting the community at large, including
Poland and
Lithuania. He reputedly turned down offers for the rabbinate in various large cities, including
Jerusalem,
New York and
Kovno.
He died in a hotel in
Riga while seeking medical treatment. He had one daughter, who predeceased him before her marriage. One of his most prominent students and a close friend, Rabbi Yisrael Avraham Abba Krieger, adopted his name since Rabbi Meir Simcha had no surviving children, carrying the full name Yisrael Avraham Abba Meir Simcha Krieger.
Ideas and influence
His political ideas were decidedly anti-
Zionist, although he's been recorded to have welcomed the
Balfour Declaration. He was present at the founding meetings of
Agudath Yisrael in the German town of
Bad Homburg, but couldn't attend the first large conference in
Katowice due to poor health. He had several clashes with some of his contemporaries, including Rabbi
Yisrael Meir Kagan (the
Chafetz Chaim) on political issues and questions of Jewish law.
It is harder to determine his exact stance in philosophical matters, although much can be gleaned from his
Meshech Chochma (see below).
Bibliography
Rabbi Meir Simcha authored
Ohr Somayach (or
Ohr Sameiach) ("The delighted, or happy, light"), a play on his name, possibly derived from
Proverbs 13:9), a collection of novellae on Maimonides'
Mishneh Torah. His approach is highly original, gathering material from the breadth of Jewish religious literature to approach difficult contradictions in Maimonides' main work of Jewish law. It was published during his lifetime and immediately became popular.
Other works, novellae on the
Talmud and
responsa, didn't have the same impact but are still used for reference.
His main contribution to
Jewish philosophy was to be posthumous. His pupil Menachem Mendel Zaks published
Meshech Chochma ("The Price of Wisdom", Meshech is the acronym of Meir Simcha Kohen, and the words derive from
Job 28:18), which contains novellae on the
Torah, but very often branches off into questions of Jewish philosophy. He is often quoted as having predicted
the Holocaust in a statement in this work: "They think that Berlin is Jerusalem".
Ohr Somayach yeshivas
In the late
1970s several
baal teshuva yeshivas under
Haredi Judaism auspices were founded and chose to honor the memory of Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk by calling themselves by his
pen name for his work "Ohr Somayach". The first was the yeshiva
Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem in
Israel, and another was
Ohr Somayach, Monsey in the
United States. Other branches were established in
Toronto and
Montreal in Canada, and in
Detroit,
Los Angeles, and
Philadelphia. With others in
London in the
United Kingdom,
Johannesburg in
South Africa,
Kiev in
Ukraine, and
Sydney in
Australia, all bearing the name
Ohr Somayach.
Further Information
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