Menahem Mendel ben Abraham Krochmal (c. 1600-1661) was a Moravian rabbi born in Kraków

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

. His teacher in 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....

 was Joel Sirkes

Yoel Sirkis

Joel ben Samuel Sirkis also known as the Bach - an abbreviation of his magnum opus, Bayit Chadash - was a prominent Jewish posek and halakhist. He lived in central Europe and held rabbinical positions in Belz, Brest-Litovsk and Kraków from 1561-1640.-Biography:Sirkis was born in Lublin in 1561...

, author of Bayis Chadash. Krochmal soon distinguished himself so highly that with the permission of his master he was able to open a yeshiva

Yeshiva

Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...

, which sent forth scholars like Gershon Ashkenazi (afterward his son-in-law), and Menahem Mendel Auerbach

Menahem Mendel Auerbach

Menahem Mendel ben Meshullam Auerbach was an Austrian rabbi, banker, and commentator born in Vienna at the beginning of the 17th century...

, author of Ateres Zekeinim. The Jews of Cracow, in appreciation of his learning, made Krochmal dayan.

About 1636 Krochmal left his native city and went to Moravia

Moravia

Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...

. He was appointed rabbi of Kremsir

Kromeríž

Kroměříž is a town in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. The town's main landmark is the Baroque Kroměříž Bishop's Palace, where some scenes from Amadeus and Immortal Beloved were filmed...

, where he also founded a yeshivah. In 1645 he returned to Cracow; in the following year he became rabbi of Prossnitz

Prostejov

Prostějov is a city in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. Today the city is known for its fashion industry and special military forces based there....

; and in 1650 he accepted a call to the district rabbinate of Nikolsburg

Mikulov

Mikulov is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic with a population of 7,608 . It is located directly on the border with Lower Austria. Mikulov is located at the edge of a hilly area and the three Nové Mlýny reservoirs...

. He died in Nikolsburg on January 2, 1661.

Krochmal's son Aryeh Leib, who followed him in the rabbinate at Nikolsburg, published from his father's manuscripts the collection of responsa Tzemach Tzedek (Altdorf, 1775) Often it is mistakenly catalogued as being printed in Amsterdam due to the Hebrew acronym.

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

• Landshuth, Ammudei ha-'Avodah, p. 187;
• Horodetzky, in Ha-Goren, ii.32;
• Dembitzer
  Haim Nathan Dembitzer
  Haim Nathan Dembitzer was a Polish Galician rabbi and historian.-Biography:His father, Jekuthiel Solomon, a scholarly merchant who claimed he was a descendant of R. Moses Isserles, died in 1833, aged forty-four. On Jun 11, 1841 he married Doba Deutscher...
  
  , Kelilat Yofi, ii.143b;
• Frankl-Grün, Gesch. der Juden in Kremsier, i.89;
• Kaufmann Gedenkbuch, p. 373