The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe

(1558–1616), rabbinical scholar and authority. Me’ir ben Gedalyah of Lublin, known as Maharam (an acronym for “Our teacher, the Rabbi Me’ir”) or Maharam of Lublin, was a major figure in the Golden Era of TorahTorah(from the root y-r-h, one of whose meanings is “to teach, to instruct”; Yid., toyre) The term Torah is used broadly to connote all of sacred literature; more specifically it refers only to the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch (Heb., Ḥumash) consists of the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. study in Poland during the second half of the sixteenth century. He was born in Lublin and was a student of Shalom Shakhnah; he also studied with Yitsḥak ha-Kohen Shapira of Kraków, whose daughter Esther he married. In 1582, he founded a yeshiva in Lublin, and five years later was a rabbi and head of the yeshiva in Kraków. In 1595, he moved to Lwów, where he served as a dayan (rabbinic judge) and head of the yeshiva.

After being widowed in 1604, Rabbi Me’ir married the daughter of Pinḥas ha-Kohen of Fulda. In 1611, a legal dispute broke out in Lwów between Maharam and Yehoshu‘a ben Aleksander ha-Kohen (Falk) regarding the so-called “divorce of Vienna.” As a consequence, Maharam returned to Lublin, where he served as a rabbi. He was fluent in Polish and according to some sources was involved in moneylending.

Maharam of Lublin is also the name given to the first of his seven books (jointly titled The Seven Candles), Manhir ‘ene ḥakhamim (1618). It contains 140 responsaresponsa(Latin, sg., responsum; Heb., she’elot u-teshuvot or shutim; “questions and answers.”) Body of legal literature of questions posed to legal decisors (poskim), which they then answered., reflecting the social and economic life of Polish Jews. Jews from places as far as Russia, Italy, and Turkey also sought his advice. He opposed excessive reliance on the Shulḥan ‘arukh and encouraged clarifying each halakhic ruling based on its source in the TalmudTalmud(From the root l-m-d, “to learn, to study”) Collection of commentaries on the Mishnah and the Mishnah itself. There are technically two Talmuds—the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli) and the Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi; Palestinian Talmud)—although most references to Talmud are to the former. The Talmud is also colloquially referred to as Gemara [see glossary entry Gemara] and Shas (an acronym for Shishah sedarim [six orders] of the Mishnah). It is the core of traditional Jewish civilization and the chief object of study.. His responsum number 138, on whether a Jewish court had the authority to discuss and rule on capital offenses, was removed from published versions of the book by the Russian censor.

Maharam’s second book, Me’ir ‘ene ḥakhamim was published in Venice in 1619. It contains innovative rulings and interpretations of halakhic sections of the Talmud, as well as of the comments of RashiRashi(1040–1105) Hebrew acronym for Rabi Shelomoh Yitsḥaki. Preeminent commentator on the Bible and Talmud, Rashi was born in Troyes in northern France. Known for his emphasis on literal meaning in his biblical commentaries, he covered almost all of the Hebrew Bible with the exception of the Book of Chronicles. His commentary on the Babylonian Talmud is indispensable because of its clarity and concision, and it has been included in virtually every printed edition of the Talmud. and the TosafotTosafot(lit., “additions”) Talmudic novellae traditionally thought to have been written between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries in France and Germany by relatives and disciples of Rashi. Tosafists (or ba‘ale ha-tosafot, authors of the tosafot) attempted to integrate issues brought up in Talmud and often present discussions of seemingly contradictory passages and harmonize them.. Considered highly important, Me’ir ‘ene ḥakhamim was subsequently included in most printed editions of the Talmud, appearing at the end of each tractate along with interpretations of his contemporaries Shemu’el Edels (Maharsha) and Shelomoh Luria (Maharshal).

In his lessons to his students, Maharam expounded on Talmudic texts by taking a commonsense approach. By contrast, in his writing he kept his interpretations brief so that students could grasp the depth and full meaning of the peshat (literal meaning), without pilpulpilpulA method of reasoning in Talmud study, pilpul is also used colloquially to denote unnecessarily complex and specious argumentation. [See Talmud Study.] (dialectical reasoning). In some cases, he corrected existing versions of the Talmudic text on the basis of variant readings, but in many cases he opted to be cautious and merely raised the possibility of emendation or deletion. He had a firm disposition and often claimed that the truth was as he stated “without any doubt, and there is no way of settling [the issue] in any other way” (responsum no. 111). A fierce polemicist, Maharam wrote that there was a great distance between his approach and that of Luria. He also strongly disparaged Edels, about whom he wrote dismissively.

In his responsum no. 88, Maharam boasted of having produced numerous respectable students who became heads of yeshivas, religious authorities, and teachers. Among his students were Yesha‘yahu ben Avraham Horowitz, Natan Note Spira, Yehoshu‘a ben Yosef, Binyamin Slonik, Mosheh Bunims, Efrayim Shorr, and Me’ir, father of Shabetai ha-Kohen.

The following books by Maharam were never published: “Ma’or ha-gadol,” an interpretation of the Arba‘ah turimArba‘ah turim(lit., “Four Rows”) Legal code written by Ya‘akov ben Asher (ca. 1270–1340). Yosef Karo based his Shulḥan ‘Arukh on the structure of the four sections in Arba‘ah turim:Oraḥ ḥayim, Yoreh de‘ah, Even ha-‘ezer, and Ḥoshen mishpat.; “Ma’or ha-katan,” a commentary on Yitsḥak ben Me’ir’s Sha‘are Dura; “Ner mitsvah,” a commentary on Mosheh of Coucy’s Sefer mitsvot gadol; “Torah or,” a book of sermons on the Torah; and “Or shiv‘at ha-yamim,” on the laws and proper times for determining the New Moon, which he did not complete. His book on the preparation and delivery of bills of divorce was lost in a fire.