Malbim
Encyclopedia
Volochysk
Volochysk is a town located on the left bank of the Zbruch River in Khmelnytskyi Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Volochyskyi Raion .The current estimated population is 20 958 ....
, Volhynia
Volhynia
Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...
Mar. 7, 1809; d. Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
Sept. 18, 1879), better known by the acronym Malbim , was a 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...
, Hebrew grammar
Hebrew grammar
-History of studies in Hebrew grammar:The Masoretes in the 7th to 11th centuries laid the foundation for grammatical analysis of Hebrew. As early as the 9th century Judah ibn Kuraish discussed the relationship between Arabic and Hebrew...
master, and Bible commentator.
The name "Malbim" is derived from the Hebrew
Hebrew alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
initials of his name, and became his nick-name by frequent usage.
Biography
Meïr-Leibush ben Jehiel-Michel Weiser (Russian: Меир-Лейбуш бен Йехиэл-Михл) was born at VolochyskVolochysk
Volochysk is a town located on the left bank of the Zbruch River in Khmelnytskyi Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Volochyskyi Raion .The current estimated population is 20 958 ....
, Volhynia
Volhynia
Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...
and educated in Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
and the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
by his father and, after being orphaned as a child, by his stepfather, Rabbi Leib of Volochisk.
At the age of 13 he went to study in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. where he was known as the iluy from Volhynia. He showed talent from his early childhood, and his works indicate that he had a considerable knowledge of secular sciences and history. From 1838 to 1845 he served as rabbi of Wreschen
Wrzesnia
Września is a town in central Poland with 28,600 inhabitants . It is situated in the Września County, Greater Poland Voivodeship , previously in Poznań Voivodeship , on the Wrzesnica River.- History :...
, and in the latter year was called to the rabbinate of Kempen
Kepno
Kępno is a town in Poland. It lies on the outskirts of the Greater Poland Voivodeship, as it borders on Silesia and the Łódz Land, at the crossing point of two transport routes: north to south and east to west . As of December 31, 2009 Kępno had a population of 14,760...
, where he remained until 1859; he was thereafter also known as der Kempener Magid.
In 1859 Malbim became 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 Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. He did not get along with the upper class and educated Jews there, some of them Austrian citizens (called in Romanian "sudiţi"); led by the famous Dr. Iuliu Barasch
Iuliu Barasch
Iuliu Barasch or Baraş was a Galician-born Jewish physician and writer who made his career in Romania.-Biography:Born in Brody into a Hasidic family as Yehuda ben Mordehai Barasch...
; they wished to introduce changes in the spirit of modern European life into the life of the local Jewry, which were at great variance with the beliefs and practices of the traditional rabbinic Judaism. The Malbim defended the traditional style of Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
, which demanded strict adherence to Jewish law and tradition
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
, and rejected almost all editing of the Siddur
Siddur
A siddur is a Jewish prayer book, containing a set order of daily prayers. This article discusses how some of these prayers evolved, and how the siddur, as it is known today has developed...
, giving up beards and other changes in the exterior appearance, and other similar changes in some observances.
The Malbim was a vocal opponent to the building of the big Choral Temple
Templul Coral
The Choral Temple is a synagogue located in Bucharest, Romania. It followed the plans of Vienna's Leopoldstadt-Tempelgasse Great Synagogue . It was designed by Enderle and Freiwald and built between 1857 - 1867. It was devastated by the extreme right Legionaries and then restored after World War...
, with choir and organ, an imitation of the Great Synagogue of Leopoldstadt
Leopoldstädter Tempel
The Leopoldstädter Tempel was the largest synagogue of Vienna, in the district of Leopoldstadt. It was also known as the Israelitische Bethaus in der Wiener Vorstadt Leopoldstadt. It was built in 1858 in a Moorish Revival style by the architect Ludwig Förster...
in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, and which would soon become (1864) the main neo-orthodox synagogue in Romania.
He also condemned the foundation (before his coming) of the first two elementary schools with general knowledge curriculum aimed at the Jewish children in Bucharest, projects which were encouraged during that period by Romanian officials, who agreed for a while to a better integration of the Jews into Romanian life.
The authoritarian style of the Malbim also caused a portion of the religious personnel (shochtim, dayanim) to become hostile to him. He threatened with excommunication
Cherem
Cherem , is the highest ecclesiastical censure in the Jewish community. It is the total exclusion of a person from the Jewish community. It is a form of shunning, and is similar to excommunication in the Catholic Church...
those who did not comply with his decisions.
By their frequent complaints as well as intrigues and false accusations, his opponents almost succeeded having him sent to prison. Though he was soon liberated through the intervention of Sir Moses Montefiore
Moses Montefiore
Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, Kt was one of the most famous British Jews of the 19th century. Montefiore was a financier, banker, philanthropist and Sheriff of London...
, it was upon the condition that he leave Romania.
Malbim went to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
and complained to the Turkish government
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, but obtained no satisfaction. After staying six months in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, he went to Lunshitz, in Russian Poland, as successor to his deceased father-in-law, Hayyim Auerbach (1866). Shortly afterwards he became rabbi at Kherson
Kherson
Kherson is a city in southern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kherson Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast. Kherson is an important port on the Black Sea and Dnieper River, and the home of a major ship-building industry...
, and thence was called to the rabbinate of Mogilev
Mogilev
Mogilev is a city in eastern Belarus, about 76 km from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and 105 km from the border with Russia's Bryansk Oblast. It has more than 367,788 inhabitants...
, on the Dnieper
Dnieper River
The Dnieper River is one of the major rivers of Europe that flows from Russia, through Belarus and Ukraine, to the Black Sea.The total length is and has a drainage basin of .The river is noted for its dams and hydroelectric stations...
(1870). There, too, his lack of subservience provoked the resentment of the richer Jews; these denounced him as a political criminal, and the governor of Moghilef ordered him to leave the town.
Malbim then went to Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
as chief rabbi of the Polish community, but there he fared no better than in Bucharest and Moghilef; he was continually harassed by the German Jews. When Malbim passed through Vilna in 1879 the community there would have appointed him rabbi in place of Isaac Elijah Landau
Isaac Elijah Landau
Isaac Elijah ben Samuel Landau was a Jewish-Russian preacher, exegete, and communal worker born at Wilna. At the age of 18 he settled at Dubno, his wife's native town, where he carried on a prosperous business. On Saturdays and holy days he used to preach in the synagogues, attracting large...
, but the governor of Vilna opposed the election on the ground that he could not sanction the appointment of a rabbi who had been expelled from Moghilef as a political criminal. Thereafter he declined appointment as chief rabbi of the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. In September of the same year Malbim was on his way to Kremenchuk
Kremenchuk
Kremenchuk is an important industrial city in the Poltava Oblast of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Kremenchutskyi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast, and is located on the banks of Dnieper River.-History:Kremenchuk was...
, to the rabbinate of which town he had been appointed, when he fell sick and died at Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
.
Methodology and style
Malbim's fame and popularity rest upon his novel commentary to the Bible. His first published commentary was on Megillat EstherBook of Esther
The Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...
(1845), followed by his commentary on most of the Hebrew Tanach from then until 1876.
His commentary on the Bible is based most notably upon his proven principle that there are no true synonyms in the Tanach; apparent stylistic repetitions are not that, but rather each introduces a distinct idea.
Works
- "Artzoth haChayim", commentary and novellae on the Shulchan AruchShulchan AruchThe Shulchan Aruch also known as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most authoritative legal code of Judaism. It was authored in Safed, Israel, by Yosef Karo in 1563 and published in Venice two years later...
(section Orah Hayim, Breslau, 1837); - "Artzoth haShalom", collection of sermons (Krotoschin, 1839);
- "HaTorah vehaMitzva", analytical and innovative commentary on the Pentateuch and the midrash halakhaMidrash halakhaMidrash halakha was the ancient Judaic rabbinic method of Torah study that expounded upon the traditionally received 613 Mitzvot by identifying their sources in the Tanakh , and by interpreting these passages as proofs of the laws' authenticity. Midrash more generally also refers to the...
(Warsaw, 1874–80), including the linguistic guide Ayelet ha-Shachar on differences between similar terms in Hebrew; - "Mikra'ei Kodesh", commentary on the Prophets and Hagiographa (ib. 1874; this commentary is in parallel, on the words and on the sense; Malbim always endeavored to explain the different meanings of synonyms);
- "Mashal uMelitza", dramatic philippic, in verse, against hypocrisy (Paris, 1867).