Meir ben Baruch Halevi
Rabbi Meir ben Baruch HaLevi of Vienna (died 1406), also known as Maharam Sal or Maharam Fulda, was an Ashkenazi rabbi, one of the most important in central Europe in the period following the Tosafists. He was involved in the debate over the ordaining of French rabbis in his time, and some have attribute to him the founding of modern Ashkenazi semicha.
Biography
Little is known about his life. He was born in Fulda,[1] and therefore is sometimes called "Maharam Fulda". His father was apparently killed during the Persecution of Jews during the Black Death. He served as rabbi of Erfurt and then of Frankfurt.[1] In 1383 he moved to Nuremberg, but two years later returned to Frankfurt.[1] In the following years he was imprisoned for some time due to a false allegation. In 1392 he was freed and moved to Vienna, where he served as rosh yeshiva.[2] It was said that he brought to Vienna "all the sources of the religion and customs" of the Rhineland,[3] and this move symbolized the transfer of the center of Ashkenazi Torah culture from Ashkenaz to Austria for generations to come.[4] The last known official record mentioning him dates to 1406, and as later his wife is mentioned as a widow, he apparently died then.[5]
Isaac ben Sheshet (Rivash), despite his dispute with Meir over ordination, respected Meir and described him as "the great eagle, great of wings, full of Torah, who has wisdom".[6]
Few of Meir's halachic positions survive in writing. However, his stature among Ashkenazi rabbis is shown by his appearance in many Memorbuch lists alongside figures such as Rabbeinu Gershom, Rashi, Rabbeinu Tam, and Meir of Rothenburg.[7]
The French ordination dispute
He played an important role in the ordination dispute in France in his lifetime. Rabbi Mattitiah Treves had been known as "head of the French rabbis", and upon his death bequeathed this title to his son Yohanan Treves. However, a different student of Mattitiah's, Yeshayah ben Abba Mari who served as rabbi in Savoy contested this. Yeshayah turned to Meir ben Baruch Halevi, who gave him a semicha document, establishing that Yeshayah had the sole right to appoint rabbis in the entire kingdom of France. Yohanan, though, turned to Isaac ben Sheshet, who argued that Meir's authority to make such decrees was limited to Ashkenaz. The resulting debate drew in rabbis across Europe.[8][9]
Based on this episode, many modern scholars have concluded that Meir founded the institution of Ashkenazi semicha ("moreinu" semicha), i.e. explicit granting of the title "Moreinu" by a rabbi to his student, as a precondition to the student's serving in a rabbinic role. This title is first recorded in the French ordination dispute, suggesting that it was founded by Meir, and this was the accepted scholarly opinion in the past.[10] More recently, other scholars have rejected this argument, noting that Yeshayah's opponents (Yohanan and Isaac ben Sheshet) seem to treat semicha as a preexisting institution, arguing that Meir's controversial innovation was that the requirement of ordination by Meir should apply internationally and not only within the circles of Meir's students.[11][1]
References
- ^ a b c d Meir ben Baruch Ha-Levi
- ^ שלמה שפיצר, "מהר"ם הלוי מוינה ופסקיו", עמ' לז–לח.
- ^ Israel Isserlein, Terumat Hadeshen, Pesakim Uchtavim, 63
- ^ שלמה שפיצר, "לימוד התורה בישיבות אוסטריה במאות 14–15", דברי הקונגרס העולמי למדעי היהדות י (תשמ"ט), חטיבה ב', כרך ראשון, עמ' 137
- ^ שלמה שפיצר, "מהר"ם הלוי מווינה ופסקיו", עמ' מ.
- ^ Shut haRivash, 271
- ^ e.g. של קהילת וורמייזא, הודפס ע"י אדולף ילינק, קונטרס ווירמייזא וקהל ווינא, וינה תר"ם, עמ' 8,
- ^ יוסף הקר, "יוחנן טריוויש ומשפחתו באיטליה וישיבה בפדובה בראשית המאה החמש עשרה", ציון עח [ד] (תשע"ג), עמ' 471–472.
- ^ מרדכי ברויאר, "הסמיכה האשכנזית", ציון לג [א–ב] (תשכ"ח), עמ' 16–18.
- ^ צבי בנימין אוירבך, ברית אברהם (פרנקפורט דמיין, תר"ך), מבוא עמ' 6; א"ה ווייס, דור דור ודורשיו, חלק ה', ספר עשרים ושנים, פרק ששה עשר, עמ' 165.
- ^ מרדכי ברויאר, "הסמיכה האשכנזית", ציון לג [א–ב] (תשכ"ח), עמ' 16–18.
- v
- t
- e
- Maimonides
- Judah Halevi
- Abraham ibn Ezra
- Yom Tov Asevilli (Ritva)
- Joseph ibn Migash (Ri Migash)
- Meir Abulafia (Ramah)
- Bahya ibn Paquda
- Bahya ben Asher
- David Abudirham
- Joseph Albo
- Isaac ben Moses Arama (Akeidat Yitzchak)
- Rabbenu Yerucham
- Shem Tov ben Abraham ibn Gaon (Migdal Oz)
- Meir ben Solomon Abi-Sahula
- Isaac ibn Ghiyyat
- Maimon ben Joseph
- Isaac Aboab I
- Abraham ibn Daud
- Moses ibn Ezra
- Jonah ibn Janah
- Abraham Saba
- Nachmanides
- Menachem Meiri
- Nissim of Gerona (Ran)
- Shlomo ibn Aderet (Rashba)
- Yonah Gerondi (Rabbeinu Yonah)
- Zerachiah ha-Levi of Girona (Baal HaMaor)
- Hasdai Crescas
- Aharon HaLevi (Ra'ah)
- Isaac ben Sheshet (Rivash)
- Simeon ben Zemah Duran (Tashbatz)
- Vidal of Tolosa (Maggid Mishneh)
- Joseph ibn Habib (Nimmukei Yosef)
- Azriel of Gerona
- Moshe Chalava
- Judah ben Yakar
- Judah ben Barzillai
- Hachmei Provence
- Abraham ben David (Raavad)
- Gersonides (Ralbag)
- David Kimhi (Radak)
- Abba Mari
- Isaac ben Abba Mari (HaIttur)
- Abraham ben Nathan (HaManhig)
- David ben Levi of Narbonne (HaMichtam)
- Moses ben Joseph (Rambi)
- Abraham ben Isaac of Narbonne (Raavad II, HaEshkol)
- Levi ben Abraham ben Hayyim
- Moshe ha-Darshan
- Meshullam ben Jacob
- Asher ben Meshullam
- Abraham of Montpellier
- Joseph Caspi
- Isaac the Blind
- Samuel ibn Tibbon
- Isaac of Narbonne
- Aaron ben Jacob ha-Kohen
- Jonathan of Lunel
- Rabbi Abin ha-Gadol
- Rashi
- List of Tosafists
- Rabbeinu Tam
- Rashbam
- Solomon ben Meir
- Samson ben Joseph of Falaise
- Yom Tov of Falaise
- Eliezer ben Samuel (Yereim)
- Isaac ben Samuel (Ri HaZaken)
- Moses ben Jacob of Coucy (Semag)
- Judah ben Nathan (Rivan)
- Bechor Shor
- Abraham ben Joseph of Orleans
- Elijah of Paris
- Judah ben Yom Tov
- Haim ben Hananel HaCohen
- Yechiel of Paris
- Rivam
- Peretz ben Elijah
- Eliezer of Toul
- Chaim Paltiel
- Jacob of Orléans
- Samson of Chinon
- Jacob of Chinon
- Eliezer of Touques
- Isaac ben Abraham of Dampierre
- Elhanan ben Isaac of Dampierre
- Baruch ben Isaac
- Samson ben Abraham of Sens
- Isaac ben Eliezer Halevi
- Meir ben Samuel
- Moses of Évreux
- Samuel of Évreux
- Samuel ben Solomon of Falaise
- Judah ben Isaac Messer Leon
- Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils
- Menahem ben Helbo
- Simeon Kara
- Shemaiah of Soissons
- Elijah ben Menahem HaZaken
- Ephraim ben Samson
- Meshullam ben Kalonymus
- Gershom ben Judah (Rabbeinu Gershom)
- Simeon bar Isaac of Mainz
- Asher ben Jehiel (Rosh)
- Jacob ben Asher (Baal HaTurim)
- Mordechai ben Hillel (Mordechai)
- Meir of Rothenburg (Maharam MeRotenberg)
- Yaakov ben Moshe Levi Moelin (Maharil)
- Eliezer ben Nathan (Ra'aven)
- Eliezer ben Joel HaLevi (Raavyah)
- Eleazar of Worms (Rokeach)
- Meir HaKohen (Hagahot Maimuniot)
- Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg (Yehudah haHasid)
- Yaakov ben Yakar
- Isaac ben Mordecai of Regensburg
- Ephraim ben Isaac of Regensburg
- Samson ben Eliezer
- Eliezer ben Isaac ha-Gadol
- Judah ben Kalonymus
- Yehuda HaKohen ben Meir
- Meir ben Baruch Halevi
- Israel Bruna
- Israel of Bamberg
- Ephraim of Bonn
- Judah ben Asher
- Joel ben Isaac ha-Levi
- Jacob ben Judah Landau
- Samuel ben Natronai
- Alexander Suslin
- Jacob Weil
- Isaac ben Asher ha-Levi
- Simha of Speyer
- Isaac Asir HaTikvah
- Israel Isserlein (Terumat HaDeshen)
- Isaac of Vienna (Or Zarua)
- Avigdor Cohen of Vienna
- Isaac Tyrnau
- Nathan ben Jehiel (the Aruch)
- Isaiah di Trani (Rid)
- Isaiah di Trani the Younger (Riaz)
- Obadiah of Bertinoro
- Menahem Recanati
- Zedekiah Anaw (Shibbolei HaLeket)
- Benjamin Anaw
- Judah Anav
- Moses ben Meir of Ferrara
- Eliezer ben Samuel of Verona
- Hillel ben Samuel
- Joseph Colon Trabotto
- Isaac ben Melchizedek
- Judah Messer Leon