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First edition of this super-commentary and novellae on the Hokhmat Shelomo of R. Solomon Luria (Maharshal) by R. Moses ben Judah Sonnenschein. The title page notes the comprehensiveness of Hokhmat Shelomo, encompassing practically all aspects of halakhah. However, the Maharshal is not always clear to all. This work therefore addresses that need. There is an approbation from R. Moses Sofer (Hatam Sofer) as well as an introduction from the Hatam Sofer, followed by the text in two columns in rbbinic type. Hokhmat Shelomo (Cracow, 1582 or 1587), the basis for this work, is glosses on the text of the Talmud together with short comments. Hokhmat Shelomo was published in most editions of the Talmud in a very abridged – and many times corrupt and meaningless – form, after many of his emendations had already been inserted into the actual text of the Talmud. Ironically, the corrupted text of his glosses was the result of further scribal and typographical error.
R. Solomon ben Jehiel Luria (Maharshal, 1510?–1574) was a renowned posek and talmudic commentator Few biographical details are known of him. He was probably born in Poznan (Poland). His family was related to many of the important families of the time, including Katzenellenbogen and Minz of Padua. Luria was orphaned in his youth. He was educated by his maternal grandfather, Isaac Klober, a well-known scholar, and Luria took pride in the fact that he received most of his learning and traditions from him. Since his grandfather was his only teacher, Luria was primarily a self-taught scholar. This explains in part his sharp criticism of other sages and his unusual independence of thought. When 40 years old, he was appointed rabbi and rosh yeshivah of Ostrog. About 20 years later he moved to Brisk (Brest-Litovsk) where he may also have been rabbi before he went to Ostrog, and then to Lublin where he served as a rosh yeshivah, at first in the yeshivah founded by Shalom Shachna. However, after becoming involved in a quarrel with Israel, the son of Shalom, he left and in 1567 – with the permission of the government – founded his own yeshivah where he was able to teach in accordance with his own system. Although Luria raised many pupils who became rabbis in Poland and Lithuania during his own and the following generation, some left his yeshivah and went to R. Israel. Luria felt this desertion deeply and complained about it in harsh words. Among his outstanding pupils were R. Mordecai Jaffe and R. Joshua Falk.
R. Luria was unique for his time in the complete independence he showed in halakhic ruling and in the critical method which he employed. His magnum opus was the Yam shel Shelomo, a halakhic compendium that follows the order of the Talmud. For Luria, the Talmud was the ultimate source of Jewish law, which explains his decision to write his book as a halakhic commentary on the Talmud. At the same time, Luria felt that all the relevant sources should be used. Thus his legal decisions were based on a comparison of all the vast commentaries and halakhic material – both that compiled before and during his time – with the talmudic sources, showing remarkable profundity while strictly avoiding the pilpul and hairsplitting which then dominated the yeshivot of Poland, particularly that of R. Shalom Shachna. Luria valued Kabbalah to the point of quoting the Zohar and other kabbalistic works in his Yamshel Shelomo. However, he never used kabbalistic sources as the final arbiters of the law. Even though Luria meant his work to be of practical use, by tying his discussions to the order of the Talmud it became cumbersome to use. His rulings were accepted by most of his contemporary scholars with whom he was in correspondence and exchanged responsa. However, his extraordinary firmness – as well as his public accusations that many of the rabbis who were stringent in their rulings had their eye on monetary gain and "the benefit it brought them and their scribes" (responsum 21) – roused many opponents against him. His criticism also included the quality of the printed text of the Talmud of which the first good and complete editions had been published in the preceding generation. His own personal glosses correcting the corrupt text were written into his personal edition of the Talmud. Despite the fact that these were made for his personal use, they were published, first as a separate work in 1581 and later in the margins of the printed Talmud texts. As a result, Luria had great impact on almost every page of the Babylonian Talmud, on its text, on Rashi's commentary, and on the Tosafot.
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