R. Meir Loeb ben Jehiel Michael Weisser Malbim (1809–1879) fame and immense popularity rest upon his commentary on the Bible, which was widely esteemed. Born in Volochisk (Volhynia), Malbim was a child when his father died. He married at the age of 14, but after a short time divorced his wife. He went to Warsaw, where he became widely known as the "illui from Volhynia." From there he went to Leczyca, where he married the daughter of the local rabbi Hayyim Auerbach, who maintained him, and he was thus able to devote himself to literary work. In 1834 he traveled to Western Europe to obtain commendations from contemporary rabbis for his Arzot ha-Hayyim (1837), visiting, among other places, Pressburg, Amsterdam, and Breslau. In 1839, on the recommendation of Solomon Zalman Tiktin of Breslau, he was appointed head of the rabbinic court of Wreschen (district of Posen). From there he went to Kempen in 1840, where he remained for 18 years, and was therefore sometimes referred to as "The Kempener." He finally agreed to accept the call of the Bucharest community, and in the summer of 1858 he was officially inducted as chief rabbi of Romania.H rapidly deteriorating relations with the enlightened members of his community made his position precarious. Because of Malbim's uncompromising stand against Reform, disputes broke out between him and the communal leaders of the town, leading to his imprisonment. On Friday, March 18, 1864, Malbim was arrested and jailed. He was freed only on the intervention of Sir Moses Montefiore and on condition that he leave Romania and not return. Upon release, he was placed in a boat sailing down the Danube River. He was put ashore at the Bulgarian border town of Ruschuk. M. Rosen has published various documents which disclose the false accusations and calumnies Malbim's Jewish-assimilationist enemies wrote against him to the Romanian government. They accused him of disloyalty and of impeding social assimilation between Jews and non-Jews by insisting on adherence to the dietary laws, and said, "this rabbi by his conduct and prohibitions wishes to impede our progress." As a result of this the prime minister of Romania issued a proclamation against the "ignorant and insolent" rabbi for his effrontery in "publishing libelous letters against those eating meat from any butcher shop and he has preached against the idea of progress and freedom." In consequence the minister refused to grant rights to the Jews of Bucharest, on the grounds that the rabbi of the community was "the sworn enemy of progress." Determined to refute the false accusations made against him, Malbim went to Constantinople to lodge a complaint against the Romanian government, which was then under Turkish domination. Following the rejection of his appeal and his failure to obtain the help of the Alliance Israélite Universelle (in transmitting a memorandum written in 1864 in Paris in which Malbim, with the help of Adolphe Crémieux, addressed himself to the Romanian ruler, stressing his patriotism), he was compelled to leave Romania (1864). During his wanderings in the following years he suffered persecution and calumny. He served as rabbi intermittently in Leczyca, Kherson (1869–70), Lunshitz (1870–71), and Mogilev (1872–75), and wherever he went he was persecuted by the assimilationists, the maskilim, and the Hasidim. The maskilim accused him of being an extremist and a rebel against the enlightenment. He was invited to Mainz, and on his way stopped at Koenigsberg, where he remained for about four years (1875–79). In 1879 he received an invitation from Kremenchug, Poltava oblast, to serve as its rabbi, but died in Kiev on his way there.

The second work is Ba’alei ha-Nefesh by R. Abraham ben David of Posquières (Rabad III). It is a commentary on the laws of niddah (family purity) and mikva’ot by R. Abraham ben David of Posquières (Rabad III, c. 1125–1198). Known as Rabad III to distinguish him from two other sages with the same name, this Rabad was born in Narbonne, studying under R. Moses ben Joseph ha-Levi and R. Meshullam ben Jacob of Lunel, two of the great Talmudists of Provence, the latter becoming his father-in-law. Of great wealth, Rabad, residing in Posquières, encountered the envy (hostility) of Elzear, the local lord, who had him incarcerated, only to be freed by Count Roger II of Carcassonne, who in turn banished the lord of Posquières to Carcassonne. Rabad, who had fled, returned to and remained in Posquières, where his students included many of the most prominent scholars of Provence. A leading Talmudist and halakhic authority, writing highly regarded and influential commentaries and glosses, Rabad is best known today for his critical and explanatory glosses to Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah.

Ba’alei ha-Nefesh, written when Rabad was already older. It beginsby stating that the Lord has aroused his spirit to address the subject of man cleaving to his wife and all the ordinances related to their relationship. Rabad emphasizes that man alone, unlike animals who do not have a female specific to a male, has “a helpmeet” (Genesis 2:18, 20) to attend to all his needs and to stand with him. The chapters are sha’ar ha-perishah (separation), tikkun ha-vestot (menstruation), ketamim (stains), sephira ve-ha-bedikah (counting and examining), tevilah (immersion), ha-mayyim (the water), and kedushah (sanctification). Ba’alei ha-Nefesh is an important work on the laws of niddah and mikva’ot and is frequently quoted and relied upon in later halakhic works, including the Shulhan Arukh.