Joseph ben Menahem Mendel Steinhardt (ca. 1720–1776) was a German rabbi who lived in his early year in Schwabach

Schwabach

Schwabach is a German town of about 40,000 inhabitants near Nuremberg, in the center of the region of Franconia in the North of Bavaria. The city is an autonomous administrative district . Schwabach is also the name of a river which runs through the city prior joining the Rednitz.Schwabach is...

, Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

. His first position as rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

 was as the rabbi of Rixheim

Rixheim

Rixheim is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. It forms part of the Mulhouse Alsace Agglomération, the inter-communal local government body for the Mulhouse conurbation.-References:*...

, and shortly afterward he was elected chief rabbi

Chief Rabbi

Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...

 of Upper Alsace. ln 1755 he was chosen chief rabbi of Nieder-Ehenheim in Lower Alsace, and eight years later was called as rabbi to Fürth

Fürth

The city of Fürth is located in northern Bavaria, Germany in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the two cities being only 7 km apart....

, where he officiated until his death.

Steinhardt was one of the foremost Talmudists of his time, and questions were addressed to him from Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 (Verona

Verona

Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...

), the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 (Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

), and Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. He was very pious, and induced the lord of the manor of Nieder-Ehenheim to forbid men and women dancing together. His attitude in his controversy with rabbi Yeshaye Pick regarding Eleazar Kalir

Eleazar Kalir

Eleazar ben Kalir was one of Judaism's earliest and most prolific of the paytanim, liturgical poets. Many of his hymns have found their way into festive prayers of the Ashkenazi Jews synagogal rite....

 is also noteworthy, since he maintained that the word "Be-Rabbi" was not a second name, but merely an honorary title of Kalir's, who he claimed was a contemporary of Saadia

Saadia

Saadia is a Jewish name and Arabic name. it can refer to several people:*Saadia Gaon - Ninth century rabbi, philosopher, and exegete of the Geonic period.*Saadia Afzaal - Pakistani journalist and television news anchor....

.

Steinhardt was the author of the following works:

• Zikron Yosef (Fürth, 1773), a work in four parts, containing responsa
  Responsa
  Responsa comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them.-In the Roman Empire:Roman law recognised responsa prudentium, i.e...
  
   and decisions modeled on the ritual codices
• Mashbir Bar (Prague, 1827), comprising notes on the Pentateuch
• Koaḥ Shor (ib. 1827), containing novellæ on the treatise Baba Batra, with notes by his grandson Akiba

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

• Moritz Steinschneider
  Moritz Steinschneider
  Moritz Steinschneider was a Bohemian bibliographer and Orientalist. He received his early instruction in Hebrew from his father, Jacob Steinschneider , who was not only an expert Talmudist, but was also well versed in secular science...
  
  , Cat. Bodl. col. 1533;
• Eliakim Carmoly
  Eliakim Carmoly
  Eliakim Carmoly was a French-Jewish scholar. He was born at Soultz-Haut-Rhin, then in the French department of Haut-Rhin. His real name was Goschel David Behr ; the name Carmoly, borne by his family in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, was adopted by him when quite young...
  
  , in Revue Orientale, iii. 307;
• Frankel, in Orient, Lit. viii. 246.