[Page 295]

The Religious Life

Little is the information we have of the history of the early days of the large and ancient community of Lutsk, which, without a doubt, was established at the beginning of the15th century AD. The first events of the five hundred year old community are shrouded in fog, and there

HaRav Elhanan Sorotzkin

And these are the names of the rabbis of Lutsk, from the middle of the 4th century until the beginning of the 7^th century to the 6^th millennium, according to what we were able to gather from various sources and books.

1. The first Rabbi of Lutsk, whose name is known to us, is HaGaon^[2] R' Aharon HaLevi Ish-Horowitz, a relative of the Shelah (R' Isaiah Horowitz, author of the book Shenei Luchot HaBerit [Two Tablets of the Covenant], and it is possible to determine the time of his rabbinate in Lutsk to the years 5340-5350 (1580-90). His son was HaGaon R' Shmuel, who filled the place of the Shelah in the rabbinate of Dubno, and later served as president of the court of Ludmila.
2. In the year 5363 (1603), served as the Rabbi of Lutsk one of the greatest rabbis of his generation, HaGaon R' Moshe son of R' Yehudah HaCohen Shapira, grandson of the well known Gaon, R' Yitzchak Shapira, president of the court of the holy community of Krakow. HaGaon R' Moshe, the Rabbi of Lutsk, was the son-in-law of R' Shaul Wahl, the Polish “King,” who carried the crown of Poland on his head for one night. There are many legends about this matter in the history of the Jews of Poland, and R' Shaul was undoubtedly the leader, and the “lobbyist,” of the Jews of Poland and Lita in that generation. From Lutsk, HaGaon R' Moshe moved to serve as the Rabbi of the Krakow region. He wrote the book, Questions and Answers Maharam^[3], which remained in a manuscript and was not printed. There is consent from him on the book, Mekor Chachimim [The Source of Sages], which was printed together with the consents of famous Geonim, the Shelah and Ba'al Halevushim^[4]. He passed away in the year 5377 (1617).
3. HaGaon R' Yosef Aharon Peretz Yehudah, served in the rabbinate in Lutsk in about the years 5370-5975 (1610-15). His son was the Hasidic rabbi, R' Yitzchak Yakov Koppel, who was described as, “a wise student in the kollel^[5] who studied the Torah day and night.” He passed away in Lublin in the year 5407/1647 (according to what is written on his tombstone). His daughter-in-law - the widow of R' Yitzchak Yakov Koppel - was a rich woman with great property. A debt of 900 Polish zloty, which the heads of the State of Lita owed to her, was recorded in “Pinkas HaKehilot Lita.”
4. HaGaon R' Alexander Susskind, son of R' Moshe HaCohen Ashkenazi, known as Susskind Katz, served as president of the court in Lutsk in the years 5375-5381 (1615-21). He was one of the greatest and most important rabbis of his generation, and among the signatories of the ban on the printing of SeferMe'irat Enayim^[6] for ten years (the famous commentary on Choshen Mishpat^[7] known by his abbreviated name S'ma). He signed, together with the S'ma, the Maharsha^[8], Ba'al Halevushim, and HaGaon R' Moshe HaCohen Shapira, his predecessor in the rabbinate in Lutsk, the consent for the book, Zikhron Moshe [Memorial for Moshe], by HaGaon our teacher R' Moshe Zevulun Eliezer of Brisk. There is also a consent from him on the famous Sidur of R' Shabbethai Sofer. There are eulogies about him in the well known book, Eitan HaEzrahi [Eitan the Citizen], and it is also said there that the elderly Gaon, R' Susskind Katz, Rabbi of Lutsk, passed away in the year 5381 (1621).

5. HaGaon R' Avraham HaLevi Segal, the elderly uncle of the TaZ^[9] (Turei Zahav [“Rows of Gold”] about Shulchan Aruch), president of the court of the community of Lutsk in about the year 5390 (1630). His son, HaGaon R' Yitzchak, was a rabbi in Biaroza, Bocki and Pappenheim in Germany. Was the father-in-law of HaGaon R' Aharon Katzenellenbogen of Brisk, author of the book Minchat Aharon about Masechet Sanhedrin^[10].
6. The famous Gaon, R' Yakov Shor, son of HaGaon R' Ephraim Zalman Shor president of the court of the community of Brisk and author of the book Tevu'ot Shor^[11]. The mother of R' Yakov Shor, Henla, was the daughter of the famous R' Shaul Wahl. According to legend, the Polish king, Sigismund III, coveted her and wanted to marry her after the queen's death. R' Shaul Wahl hurried to marry her to the seventy year old R' Efraim Zalman Shor, who, at that time, was widowed by his wife, to prevent the king from taking her. R' Yakov Shor was born from this marriage. After the death of his old father he was brought up by his mother, who raised him in yeshivot and traveled with him to the distinguished men of the time to receive “ordination.” R' Yakov Shor was president of the court of the community of Lutsk to the year 5398 (1638), and later he was accepted as president of the court of the community of Brisk in place of his father. He wrote the book Beit Yakov about Masechet Sanhedrin that was printed in Amsterdam. There are also responsa^[12] from him in the book Teshuvot Geonei Batrai and also in the book Helkat Mehokek about Eben Ha-Ezer^[13]. He passed away in the year 5415 (1654). His sons-in-law were: HaGaon R' Issac Heilprin president of the court of the community of Tykocin, HaGaon R' Shaul president of the court of the community of Pińczów, and R' Avraham, leader of the Council of Four Lands.
7. HaGaon R' Yosef, son of R' Eliyakim Getz Heilprin, son-in-law of the Maharam of Lublin, was the president of the court of the community of Lutsk in the year 5400 (1640). Was among those who gave their consent to the book, Siftei Cohen [Lips of the Priest], on Shulchan Aruch, and the father-in-law of R' Nachman Rappaport, president of the court of the communities of Kremenets and Belz - grandfather of HaGaon R' Chaim of Volozhin. From Lutsk he was accepted president of the court of the community of Lwow (out of the city), and passed away in the year 5412 (1652). There is am answer from him in the book Eitan HaEzrahi, in which he allows to ignore a Jewish murderer who was caught by the authorities, and rules that no effort should be made to save him from the death penalty that threatens him. In Pinkas Lwow it is written that a “place” in the synagogue, belonging to the husband of his daughter Liba, was sold to redeem her from prison. On his tombstone it is written among other “He was the president of the court in honest and righteous judgments, and an important head of a yeshiva, he taught the Torah with many pure and refined sayings…and was buried here in Lwow with loud and strong voices in the streets and the markets.”
8. HaGaon R' Man (Menish), Rabbi of Lutsk in the years 5408-5409 (1648-1649). He was murdered with 200 Jews from Lutsk by Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, on the sanctification of God's name, (Ṭiṭ ha-Yawen^[14]).
9. HaGaon R' Mordechai HaCohen Rapoport (Schrenzel), was a rabbi in Lutsk after the year 5410 (1650), son of HaGaon R' Avraham author of the book Eitan HaEzrahi, and son -in-law of HaGaon R' Shimon Klaif of Germany. He redeemed from the hands of the students in Lwow the manuscript of Eitan HaEzrahi that they robbed in the riots organized by them. His nephew, R' Avraham, president of the court in Bohuslav, published the book in the year 5526 (1766).
10. The Kabbalist, HaGaon R' Yitzchak son of R' Avraham, who was unique in his generation in the Torah and Kabbala, (according to the testimony of the book Shem Yakov). Was the president of the court in Lutsk to the year 5424 (1664). From Lutsk he was accepted as President of the Court in Vilna [Vilnius], and from there to Poznań. HaGaon R' Yitzchak also taught the wisdom of the Kabbalah to many students. The author of Magen Avraham^[15], one of his greatest students, mentioned him several times in his book. He wrote a book of responsa, Be'er Yitzchak [Yitzchak's Well], and was a descended of a privileged family. His father, HaGaon R' Avraham, was the Rabbi of Ostroh, and a descended of HaGaon R' Yitzchak author of Shaare Dura. His son, HaGaon R' Yakov (son-in-law of HaGaon R' Naftali HaCohen author of Semichat Chachamim) filled his place in the rabbinate in Poznań. In the year 5443 (1863), HaGaon R' Yitzchak, signed a judgment issued in the conflict between the leaders of the State of Lita and the community of Brisk. He passed away in Poznań in the year 5447 (1687).
11. HaGaon R' Moshe Katz -Kahana, son of HaGaon R' Pesach son of HaGaon R' Tanchum, son of Sherit Yosef [Rabbi Yosef Reyzen] brother-in-law of the Remah^[16] -was president of the court in Lutsk after HaGaon R' Yitzchak son of R' Avraham. He previously served as rabbi in the kloiz in Brisk, later as president of the court in Slutsk and from there moved to Lutsk. He was a great and famous rabbi in his generation. He gave his consent, together with Turei Zahav, to the book Amudeha Shivah, in the year 5424 (1664). R' Moshe Katz was the son-in-law of R' Meir Wahl - son of the minister R' Shaul Wahl, and brother-in-law of the famous Gaon, R' Yona Teomim-Frankel, author of the book Kikayon deYona. His sons: HaRav R' Yosef Katz president of the court of the community of Friedeburg, and HaRav R' Yehudah Leib of Lutsk - father of HaGaon R; Moshe Cohen president of the court of the community of Beltz and the country. HaGaon R' Moshe Katz -Kahana passed away in the year 5430 (1670).
12. HaGaon R' Schmeril Horowitz, son of HaGaon R' Yeshaya Magid, served in the rabbinate in Lutsk probably at the same time and together with HaGaon R' Moshe Katz-Kahana, because he passed away in the year 5429 (1669) - a year before the passing of HaGaon R' Moshe Katz-Kahana.
13. From the year 5430 (1670), served in the rabbinate in Lutsk HaGaon R' Tzvi Hirsh, who is defined as “the most important president of the court of the four leaders of the Wolyn region in the Council of Four Lands” (according to Voschod^[17], October 1894 booklet). There are no other details about his activities and his attribution.
14. HaGaon R' Yisrael, son of R' Shmuel of Ternopil, president of the court in Lutsk from the year 5439 (1679). He was a student and relative of Turei Zahav. R' Yisrael, son of R' Shmuel carried on his head the crown of the rabbinate, and the crown of the leader of the Council of Four Lands as one, and signed a document that was given to the Polish Minister of Finance in Braslaw [Wrocław] in this language: “I, Yisrael son of Shmuel of Ternopil, chief supervisor of all the Jews in all the Kingdoms of Poland, and the leader of the general committee that will be held in Lublin, and with me the 18 superiors of all the Jews in the four countries of Poland… We acknowledge in our own name, and in the name of all the Jews in the Kingdom of Poland, that we have truly and innocently committed to pay the nobleman, Georg von Meltenberg, Minister of Finance of the Royal City of Braslaw - for 12 years… in cash, while enslaving all our soul, our capital and property, and that all the Jews from the four countries of the Kingdom of Poland…” According to the testimony of his contemporaries, he was “the most famous among the geniuses of the sages of his generation, and no committee was established without him.” Before he became the Rabbi of Lutsk he was a rabbi and head of a yeshiva in Ludmir, and was probably also rich, because he doanated “a decent alms for printing of Even Ha'ezer in Krakow in the year 5430 (1670). His signature is desplayed at the top of many documents, judgments and consents on books (Lev Arye, Nehamot Tzion, Sefer Haishel, Divrei Shemuel, Kene Chohama, and more), and he signed first before the famous Geonim: R' Moshe Kremer president of the court in Vilna, HaGaon R' Yitzchak son of R' Avraham of Poznań (formerly

the Rabbi of Lutsk), HaGaon R' Nachman Rappoport and HaGaon R' Tzvi Hirsh of Lublin. In the year 5437 (1677), he signed an appeal to the Jews of Amsterdam asking for help in redeeming the prisoners taken by the Tatars in the states of Podolia and Pokuttia. In the year 5438 (1678), he was elected leader of the Council of Four Lands (and served in this capacity to the year 5440 (1679). In the year 5441 (1680), he signed a judgment given in a conflict between leaders of the Council of Four Lands and the State of Lita, and in 5443 (1683), together with HaGaon R' Yitzchak son of Avraham, on a ruling in the dispute between the State of Lita and the community of Brisk. He was also among those who gave their consent at the Jarosław fair to copy the Bible into the German language and print it in Amsterdam, and also about the ban not to rule between HaRav Shabbatai HaKohen against Turei Zahav. He enthusiastically supported the book Meginei Zahav that protected Turei Zahav, and settled the disputes in the book Nekudat HaKesef of Shabbatai HaKohen against Turei Zahav - his rabbi and relative.
15. HaGaon R' Yisrael, son of R' Mordechai Yollis of Krakow, known by the name R' Yisrael Swinocher, president of the court in Lutsk after HaGaon R' Yisrael son of R' Shmuel of Ternopil. Before he was the Rabbi of Lutsk, he was president of the court in Ludmir. His father was the leader of the Council of Four Lands, and his brother-in-law was the “leader of the generation” - R' Issachar Berish son of HaGaon R' Heschel of Krakow. His daughter was the wife of HaGaon R' Simcha Katz Rappoport - grandfather of HaGaon R' Chaim HaCohen Rappoport chief of the court of the holy communities of Zittel, Slutsk and Lwow. He was among the rabbis who participated in the well-known debate with the members of the Frankism movement^[18].
16. HaGaon R' Yoel Heilprin, who were called in his time “R' Yoel the Great” - served as president of the court in Lutsk in the years 5449-5451 (1689-91). Was the son of HaGaon R' Yitzchak Isaac, president of the court of the community of Tykocin and son-in-law of the Holy Rabbi, R' Mordechai Segel who was killed on the sanctification of God's name in Lwow. He was the son of Turei Zahav. At first, he was a rabbi in Brody and later in Lutsk. From Lutsk he moved to serve as a rabbi in Pinsk, and from there to Ostroh to take the place of his father-in-law, HaGaon R' Naftali Katz, who moved to Poznań. In the last year of his life (5474 - 1713), he was elected president of the court in Lwow, but died on his way to his new place of service. There are consents from him on dozens of books that were published during his time, and he was also active in the various meeting of the Council of Four Lands, the Committee of the State of Lita, and chairman in the meetings of the rabbis of the Wolyn Region.
17. HaGaon R' Mordechai Klausner, president of the court in Lutsk in the years 5458-5481 (1698-1721). His father was HaGaon R' Tzvi Hirsch, Rabbi of Lublin and Lwow, son of HaGaon R' Zechariah Mendel who is known as “Zechariah the Prophet.” He signed a judgment given in regards to the conflicts between the communities of Tykocin and Siemiatycze, together with the former Rabbi of Lutsk, R' Yoel Heilprin, (in the year 5460 - 1700). There are also consents from him for the books, Lekach Tov and Brit Shalom. He also signed the ban on importing books from outside the country, to protect the books printed in the new printing press in Zhovkva established by R' Feibush Segal. His daughter, Malka, was married to HaGaon R' Tzvi Hirsch Horowitz, president of the court of the community of Chortkov, the father of the famous Gaon R' Pinchas HaLevi Horowitz author of the book Hafla'ah^[19].
18. HaGaon R' Tzvi Hirsch, son of R' Asher, a famous rabbi in his generation. Served as rabbi and president of the court in Lutsk starting from the year 5482 (1772).
19. HaGaon R' Avraham HaLevi of Krakow, head of a yeshiva in Lutsk - passed away in the year 5511 (1751).
20. HaGaon R' Yakov, son of HaGaon our teacher Arye Leib, president of the court in Lutsk from the year 5514 (1754). His father, president of the court in Hrodna (Grodno), was among the greatest rabbis of his generation. His father-in-law was HaGaon R' Yehusua, president of the court in Szydłów, from the family of [Yehusua Hoschel] the author of Maginei Shelomo. HaGaon R' Yakov was first a rabbi in Leźno, and from Lutsk he moved to serve as head of the rabbinical court in Lublin. During his stay in Lutsk the well-known dispute broke out between the Geonim, R' Yonatan Eibeschutz and R' Yakov Emden. He was among the enthusiastic supporters of R' Yonatan Eibeschutz, and signed the boycott against the opponents of HaGaon R' Eibeschutz in the meeting of the Council of Four Lands in the Jarosław fair in the year 5514 (1754). In the year 5515 (1754), he signed the ban against the Six Orders [of the Mishnah], which was printed in Sulzbach twenty five years after the printing of the Six Orders in Amsterdam, together with the Geonim: R' Chaim HaCohen Rappaport (his father-in-law) and R' Meshulam Zalman Gunzburg the Chief Rabbi of Russia. For lack of financial means, only twenty four pages of his book, Kokhavei Yakov, were printed in Zhovkva in the year 5534 (1774). There are consents on the book from fifty rabbis who praised it, and also these consents were not printed in the small book for lack of space, only the signatures were brought in it. He had two sons: the famous tzadik rabbi, R' Yosef, president of the court of the community of Biala, maternal grandfather of the famous Gaon, R' Shlomo Kluger of Brody, and HaRav R' Moshe president of the court of the community of Somberhaben [?].
21. HaGaon R' Yakov Aharon Heilprin, grandson of HaGaon R' Yoel the Great, was the president of the court in Lutsk in the years 5549-5551(1789-1791). His father,' R' Mordechai, was a famous rich man in Ostroh and head of Chevrah Kadisha in his city According to the opinion of all he was the author of Mazkeret leGedolei Osṭraha . HaRav R' Mordechai was also a rabbi in Lutsk before he moved to Ostroh, a place where he stripped off the rabbinical cloak and became a merchant. HaGaon R' Yakov Aharon Heilprin was previously a rabbi in Stepan. While he was there, gold vessels and precious jewels were stolen from the city's Duke. Suspicion fell on two Jews, who were imprisoned and severely tortured until they “confessed” that they had stolen the jewelry and the gold vessels, and handed them over to the rabbi's son, (HaRav R' Yosef Yoel Heilprin a preacher in Stepan), who sold them abroad. The rabbi and his son were arrested and handcuffed. The court issued a death sentence for the rabbi's son if he wouldn't not return the theft within a certain time, or if he wouldn't l not convert his religion. And here a miracle happened. That night the thieves were caught with the theft in its entirety, it was returned to the Duke and the rabbi and his son were released. To commemorate this event, HaGaon R' Yakov Aharon, wrote a scroll in which the entire miracle is recounted in rhymes. He commanded all his descendants to fast, “until the end of all generations,” on the twenty-second day of the month of Menachem Av, to recite the Slichot prayers^[20], and in the evening to have a mitzvah feast for the poor, and tell the generation to come the story of the rescue and the miracle. In Lutsk he served as rabbi and president of the court to the year 5519 (1759).
22. HaGaon R' Avraham Horowitz, president of the court of the community of Lutsk, and the region, in the years 5520-5526 (1760-1766). He was the son-in-law of HaGaon R' Asher, the Rabbi of Olyka who was one of the greatest of the generation, and son-in-law of HaGaon the author of Kodesh HaKodashim [The Holy of Holiest], R' Meir Horowitz of Tykocin. His son was R' Avigdor president of the court of the community of Kamenka, and his grandson, HaRav R' Yitzchak Shimshon, served as president of the court in Chernovtsy and Zhovkva, and published the famous book Chemdah Genuzah [Hidden Desire].
23. HaGaon R' Avraham HaLevi, served as president of the court in Lutsk until the year 5537 (1777).

24. HaRav R' Avraham, son of R' Manis, Rabbi of Lutsk in the year 5542 (1782). His father was one of Dubno' richest and most important, and left large sums in his will to charity and the poor of Eretz Yisrael.
25. The tzadik rabbi, R' Gershon Lutzker, of the great students of the Maggid of Mezeritch^[21] (a student of Baal Shem Tov). Passed away in the year 5548 (1788).
26. HaGaon R' Avraham Arye Ashkenazi, president of the court in Lutsk in the years 5544-5549 (1784-9), father-in-law of HaGaon R' Binyamin Broda of Hrodna [Grodno], and grandfather of HaGaon R' Duberush Ashkenazi author of Noda baShearim [Known in the Gates], (served as president of the court in Lutsk after 40 years).
27. The righteous rabbi, R' Shlomo son of R' Avraham Lutzker (the Maggid of Sokal), was the outstanding student of the Maggid of Mezeritch and the spreader of his teachings, the Hassidic doctrine. He published the book Maggid Devarav leYaakov [Teachings of the Maggid of Mezeritch]. In the introduction to the book, he writes that the Maggid of Mezeritch asked him to write his innovations on the Torah, “For it to be a keepsake to the work of the blessed Creator.” He was the rabbi of the first Admor of Belz. In the year 5533 (1773), he signed as a witness to the will of the Maggid of Mezeritch. He wrote the first volume of the book Dibrat Shlomo, on the foundations of the Hasidic doctrine. The following inscription is engraved on his tombstone in Sokal: “Died on the tenth of the month of Shevat 5573 [11 January 1813] by the abbreviated era, HaRav, the genius preacher, student of our rabbi Dov Ber z”l, the bright light and supreme saint, learned and sharp-witted in the Torah and the Kabballa, the honorable Shlomo son of Avraham zt”l author of the book Dibrat Shlomo.”
28. HaGaon R' Yosef Katzenellenbogen, son of the famous tzadik rabbi, R' Mordechai of Neskhizh [Niesuchojeże], of the greatest Hassidim. At first, he was a rabbi in Hrubieszów and Ustylúh, and later president of the court in Lutsk in the years 5580-5590 (1820-30). He was well known as great a Ba'al Mofet^[22]. His wife was the granddaughter of the famous tzadikim, R' Pinchas of Korets and R' Yakov Shimshon of Ostropoli. He left behind five sons, great in the Torah and Hassidut, and they are: the tzadik rabbi Pinchas of Ustyluh, HaRav R' Baruch of Konstantin, and HaRav R' Levi Yitzchak of Stepan. His father-in-law was the famous tzadik, R' Avraham Yehoshua Heshel of Opatów. He passed away in the year 5590 (1830).
29. The famous Gaon in his generation, R' Duberush, son of HaRav R' Moshe Ashkenazi, grandson of the above mentioned, HaGaon R' Avraham Arye the Rabbi of Lutsk. He was a great-grandson, and grandson, of HaGaon author of Chacham Tzvi^[23] and HaGaon author of Sha'ar Efraim^[24]. Even at a young age he was famous as one of the greatest rabbis and was approached with questions and answers. In the year 5591 (1831), at the age of thirty, he was accepted as president of the court in Lutsk, in the year 5598 (1838) we find him as president of the court of Slonim, and a few years later as president of the court in Lublin. He wrote a responsa book Noda ba-Shearim [Known in the Gates] (first and last addition) and in it negotiating in Halacha [Jewish law] with all the sages of the generation who called him “The miracle of our generation, the crown on our heads, one of the pillars on which all Jews lean.” (By the way, in this book there is a comprehensive answer on the eruv^[25] in Lutsk that relies on the Styr River that surrounds the city as a partition for the Sabbath). He was the father-in-law of HaGaon R' Shlomo Eger, and a relative of [Yaakov Lorberdaum] the Rabbi of Lissa, author of the book Netivot HaMishpat [The paths of the trial]. He passed away in the year 5613 (1852) - and he was only fifty years old. He didn't leave sons and daughters after him. His brother, HaRav R' Avraham Arye, published his books, and the wealthy of Lutsk helped him as “subscribers” who paid the signing fees in advance.
30. HaRav, HaMaor HaGadol^[26], R' Eliezer of Torchyn, head of the court in Lutsk in the year 5608 (1848). There is a question from him in the book Noda ba-Shearim.
31. HaRav R' Yitzchak Landa, “Rabbi of the holy community of Lutsk,” was a rabbi and teacher in Jerusalem in the year 5610 (1850). His consent was printed in the book Bracha Meshuleshet [Triple Blessing] which was published in Lwow.

Translator's footnotes:

1. The Council of Four Lands was the central institutions of Jewish self-government in Poland and Lithuania from the middle of the 16^th century until 1764. Return
2. HaGaon (lit.“The Genius”) is an honorary title for a Jewish scholar who is noted for his wisdom and knowledge of the Talmud. Return
3. Maharam is an acronym of the words Morenu Ha-Rav rabbi M… (Our teacher the Rabbi M...). Return
4. R' Mordecai Yoffe is also known as Ba'al Halevushim for this book Levush Malkhut (lit.“Robes of Royalty”) Return
5. An institute for full-time advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Return
6. SeferMe'irat Enayim (lit.“An Eye-Opening Book”) was written by R' Yehusua HaCohen Falk. Return
7. Choshen Mishpat (lit. “Breastplate of Judgment”) is the last of four sections of Shulchan Aruch (lit.“Set Table”), the code of Jewish law written by Rabbi Yosef Karo in 1563. Return
8. Shmuel Eliezer HaLevi Eidels, a renowned rabbi and Talmudist, is also known as Maharsha, Hebrew acronym for Our Teacher, the Rabbi Shmuel Eidels. Return
9. David HaLevi Segal is also known as Turei Zahav (abbreviated TaZ) after the title of his significant commentary on Shulchan Aruch. Return
10. Masechet Sanhedrin (lit. “Assembly of Judges”) is a tractate in Seder Nezikin (“Order of Damages”) that addresses the judicial system. Return
11. Ephraim Zalman Shor was a 16^th-century Czech rabbi who is best known for his rabbinic work on kashrut and the proper ritual slaughter of animals called Tevu'ot Shor. Return
12. In rabbinic literature, the responsa are known as She'elot u-Teshuvot (Questions and Answers). Return
13. Even Ha'ezer (lit. “The Stone of Help”) is a section of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation of halakha (Jewish law). Return
14. In his book, Ṭiṭ ha-Yawen [lit.“Place of Suffering'), Samuel Phoebus describes the massacre during the Cossacks' Uprising under Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, a Ukrainian military commander, in Ukraine and Galicia in the 17^th century. Return
15. R' Abraham Abele Gombiner, known as Magen Avraham (Shield of Avraham), was a rabbi, Talmudist and a leading religious authority in the Jewish community of Kalisz, Poland Return
16. Rabbi Moshe Isserles (meaning “son of Israel”) is also known by the acronym Rema. Return
17. Voschod (lit. “Sunrise”) was a Russian-Jewish monthly (1882-1899). Return
18. Frankism, was a heretical Sabbatean Jewish religious movement of the 18^th and 19^th centuries,  centered on the leadership of the Jewish Messiah claimant, Yakov Frank. Return
19. Rabbi Pinchas HaLevi Horowitz (1730-1805) was the rabbi of Frankfurt and the author of Sefer Hafla'ah, a novellae on the tractate Ketubot Return
20. Selichot (lit. “Forgiveness”) are penitential poems and prayers, especially those said in the period leading up to the High Holidays, and on fast days. Return
21. Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch, also known as the Maggid of Mezeritch (lit. The preacher of Mezeritch), was a disciple of Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (the Baal Shem Tov), the founder of Hasidic Judaism. Return
22. The Miracle Worker, this role, known in Hebrew as the Ba'al Mofet, was often assumed by Hasidim to involve expertise in Practical Kabbalah. Return
23. Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Ashkenazi, known as the Chacham Tzvi after his responsa by the same title, served for some time as rabbi of Amsterdam. Return
24. R' Efraim HaCohen Katz of Vilnius Lithuania Return
25. The eruv is a boundary that allows observant Jews to carry needed things in public on the Sabbath. Return
26. HaMaor HaGadol is an honorary title for a very learned rabbi. Return

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