Detailed
Description |
|
Eulogy for R. Mordecai ben Abraham Banet (Benet), (1753–1829), Moravian rabbi, one of the leading talmudists of his time, by his son R. Naftali. R. Banet was born in Csurgo, Hungary. He studied at the yeshivah of Fuerth under R. Joseph Steinhardt, author of the responsa Zikhron Yosef. In 1784 he was appointed dayyan in Nikolsburg, Moravia. In 1787 and 1788 he served as rabbi of Lundenburg, Moravia, and subsequently of Sasvar, Hungary, and from 1789 as rabbi and head of the yeshivah of Nikolsburg, and district rabbi of Moravia. R. Banet's yeshivah attracted students from near and far, and during the 40 years that he headed it several thousands of students passed through. Banet fought vigorously against the Reform movement, particularly against Aaron Chorin, and vehemently opposed the founding of the Reform Temple in Hamburg. At the same time he displayed a certain understanding of the spiritual needs of his contemporaries. At the request of the government, he prepared two courses of study for students for the rabbinate which included secular studies. His proposals were published in the Toledot Mordekhai Banet (1832) of his son Jacob Abraham. Under Banet's influence, his son Naphtali Banet compiled a handbook (in Hebrew and German) on the fundamentals of the Jewish religion. Because of his great influence on his community, his talented leadership, and the support of the government, Barter succeeded in postponing the disintegration of Moravian Jewry for at least one generation later than that of the breakup of Bohemian Jewry. He was one of the chief opponents of Saul Berlin in the controversy over his work Besamim Rosh (Berlin, 1793).
Of R. Banet's works, only Be'ur Mordekhai (2 vols. Vienna, 1805–13), novellae to the Mordekhai of Mordecai b. Hillel, was published during his lifetime. After his death the following were published: Magen Avot (Zolkiew, 1835; 19032; with notes by Shalom Mordecai ha-Kohen), on the main categories of work forbidden on the Sabbath; Harha-Mor (Prague, 1861), responsa, published together with the Hokhmat Shelomo of Solomon Kwetsch, his pupil; Parashat Mordekhai (1889), responsa on the Shulhan Arukh, together with notes by the publisher, Abraham Isaac Glueck; Tekhelet Mordekhai (1892), aggadic homilies and talmudic novellae, also containing a biography of the author; Mahashevet Mordekhai (1902), aggadic novellae to the Pentateuch; Sefer Maharam Banet (also called Divrei Mordekhai; 1906), novellae on aspects of the dietary laws with notes by the publisher Abraham Jungreisz.
R. Naphtali ben Mordecai Banet, (1789–1857), Moravian rabbi and author, was the third son of R. Mordecai Banet. R. Banet officiated as rabbi and principal of the yeshivah in Safov (Schaffa, Moravia) from 1836 to 1857. He enjoined a fast and a penitential prayer to be recited on the 24th of Sivan in memory of the great conflagration of 1822 which almost destroyed the entire Jewish quarter of Schaffa; the custom was adhered to by the community until the Holocaust. R. Banet's writings include Berit Melah on melihah (salting) laws (Prague, 1816); Emunat Yisrael, a catechism of the fundamentals of Judaism for Jewish youth, in Hebrew and German (ibid., 1832); Torat Dat Moshe ve-Yisrael, on the principles of Judaism, in Hebrew and German (ibid., 1826). The latter were intended to serve as a substitute for Herz Homberg's catechism Benei Ziyyon and expressed a conservative point of view. |
