Mordecai Benet
Encyclopedia
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...
born at Csurgó
Csurgó
Csurgó is a town in Somogy county, Hungary. It is located at around .- Sightseeings :The town was important educational center of the Reformed Church in Hungary. Its Reformed Church College was visited by Mihály Csokonai Vitéz, the famous poet, too.The Árpád age church has characteristic...
, a small village in the county of Stuhlweissenburg, 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...
.
A Gifted Child
As Benet's parents were very poor and consequently unable to engage a teacher, they sent their son when only 5 years old to his grandmother at NikolsburgMikulov
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...
. There Gabriel Markbreiter provided for the tuition of the gifted child for a period of 6 years, and then sent him to Ettingen
Ettingen
Ettingen is a municipality in the district of Arlesheim in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland.-Geography:Ettingen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 33.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 49.9% is forested...
, Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
, the rabbi of which place was Markbreiter's brother-in-law. The latter became Benet's teacher, and took great delight in his pupil's wonderful development. At Benet's barmitzva (religious majority) celebration his teacher showed the guests, to their great astonishment, three of the boy's manuscripts—a commentary on the Pentateuch, a commentary on the Passover Haggadah, and novellæ on 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....
.
From his thirteenth to his 15 year Benet devoted himself exclusively to the study of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, with the aid of the Jewish commentaries and of the Haggadah in Talmud and Midrash
Midrash
The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....
; his strictly halakhic studies he completed later in the 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...
of Rabbi Joseph Steinhardt
Joseph Steinhardt
Joseph ben Menahem Mendel Steinhardt was a German rabbi who lived in his early year in Schwabach, Bavaria. His first position as rabbi was as the rabbi of Rixheim, and shortly afterward he was elected chief rabbi of Upper Alsace...
at 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 remained three years. He then went as a "ḥaber
Haber
Haber means in old German "oat", in modern German it is "Hafer":"Haferflocken"="Oatflakes".Haber can refer to:* The Haber process, the method of synthesizing ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen....
" (senior student) to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, where Meïr Karpeles started a private "klaus" for him; though Ezekiel Landau (Noda bihudah) conducted a large 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...
in the same city, a number of able Talmudists came daily to hear Benet's discourses. After staying at Prague 2 years he married Sarah Finkel (died 1828), the daughter of a prominent well-to-do citizen of Nikolsburg. Here he settled in 1773, and within a year was made ab bet din (ecclesiastical assessor).
Thirteen years later he accepted the rabbinate at Lundenburg in 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...
, which he held for six months, when he resigned to become rabbi at Schossberg
Šaštín-Stráže
Šaštín-Stráže is a town in the Senica District, Trnava Region in western Slovakia. Originally two separate villages, now it is one of the youngest towns in Slovakia, having received town privileges on 1 September 2001.-Geography:...
, 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...
. His stay in his native country was short, and in 1789 he was appointed rabbi of Nikolsburg and 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 Moravia. Later on he received offers also from Pressburg
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
and 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...
, but yielding to the solicitations of his congregation, he remained at Nikolsburg. Overstudy, however, had brought on a nervous affection in his youth, which clung to him throughout life, and was the cause of his death, which, took place at Carlsbad
Karlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary is a spa city situated in western Bohemia, Czech Republic, on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá, approximately west of Prague . It is named after King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who founded the city in 1370...
on Aug. 12, 1829, where he had gone for treatment. His body was buried temporarily at Lichtenstadt
Lichtenstadt
* A German name of Hroznětín* Lichtenstadt is a Jewish pedigree originated from Hroznětín* Rabbi Lichtenstadt , or Lasch, a Bohemian Talmudist* Rabbi Israel Lichtenstadt of Prague* Rabbi Moses Abigdor Lichtenstadt...
, near Carlsbad, but seven months later was permanently interred at Nikolsburg in accordance with his will.
(see image) Mordecai Benet.
His friend the famed Chasam Sofer
Moses Sofer
Moses Schreiber, known to his own community and Jewish posterity as Moshe Sofer, also known by his main work Chasam Sofer, , , was one of the leading Orthodox rabbis of European Jewry in the first half of the nineteenth century...
who had the highest esteem for him; eulogized him and called him "ben yochid leKidsho Berich Hie" (an only child to Hashem); meaning that no one was his equal.
His Works
Although Benet's works are neither numerous nor exhaustive, they are among the classic products of Talmudic literature in the 18th century. They are:- Biur Mordecai (The Commentary of Mordecai), Vienna, 1813, a commentary on Mordecai ben HillelMordecai ben HillelMordechai ben Hillel HaKohen , also known as The Mordechai, was a 13th century German rabbi and posek. His chief legal commentary on the Talmud, referred to as the Mordechai, is one of the sources of the Shulchan Aruch. He died a martyr's death at Nuremberg.-Biography:Little is known of the...
's compendium - Magen Abot (Shield of the Fathers), Zolkiev, 1835, a treatise on the thirty-nine acts prohibited on the Sabbath
- Har ha-Mor (Mountain of Myrrh), responsa, with allusion to the rabbinical explanation of the name "Mordecai" by "Mara dakya" (= pure myrrh)
- Parashat Mordecai (The Explanations of Mordecai), Szigeth, 1889, responsa
- Tekelet Mordecai (Mordecai's Purple Garment), Lemberg, 1892, halakic and haggadic discourses
All these works clearly show Benet's keenness, wide knowledge of rabbinical literature, and, what is still more important, his logical and strictly scientific method. In contrast to his friends Moses Sofer
Moses Sofer
Moses Schreiber, known to his own community and Jewish posterity as Moshe Sofer, also known by his main work Chasam Sofer, , , was one of the leading Orthodox rabbis of European Jewry in the first half of the nineteenth century...
and Akiba Eiger, who were casuists, Benet avoided casuistry in discussing involved halakic questions, gaining his ends by means of a purely critical explanation and a systematic arrangement of the matter. An excellent example of Benet's criticism is his letter to the chief rabbi of Berlin, Tzvi Hirsch Levin
Hirschel Levin
Rabbi Hirschel Ben Arye Löb Levin was Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and Berlin, and Rabbi of Halberstadt and Mannheim....
, whom he tries to convince of the spuriousness of the collection of responsa Besamim Rosh. This collection was published by Saul Berlin
Saul Berlin
Saul Berlin was a German Talmudist and one of the most learned Jews of the Mendelssohnian period.-Early life:...
, Levin's son, as the work of Asher ben Jehiel
Asher ben Jehiel
Asher ben Jehiel- Ashkenazi was an eminent rabbi and Talmudist best known for his abstract of Talmudic law. He is often referred to as Rabbenu Asher, “our Rabbi Asher” or by the Hebrew acronym for this title, the ROSH...
(Parashat Mordecai, No. 5; Literaturblatt des Orients, v. 53, 55, 140). A comparison of Benet's criticism on the work with Zunz
Zunz
Zunz, Zuntz is a Yiddish surname: , Belgian pharmacologist* Leopold Zunz , German Reform rabbi* Gerhard Jack Zunz , British civil engineer- Zuntz :* Nathan Zuntz , German physiologist...
's remarks on it(Ritus, pp. 226–228) can not fail to excite admiration of Benet's method.
Superiority of His Style
Benet's works differ in other respects from those of his contemporaries. His style is clear and elegant, and his language is a pure Hebrew. Moreover, Benet's attitude toward the strict orthodoxy of his friends and colleagues was exceptional, and may be attributed to his knowledge of modern thought (compare his letter to Ẓebi Hirsch LevinHirschel Levin
Rabbi Hirschel Ben Arye Löb Levin was Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and Berlin, and Rabbi of Halberstadt and Mannheim....
in Literaturblatt des Orients, v. 54). These characteristics gave him an independent position in the struggle between orthodoxy and the so-called "spirit of enlightenment."
Views on Education
Frequently Benet showed an insight lacking in his opponents. In his memorial to the government on the education of rabbis (printed in Toledot Mordecai, pp. 35–37), he remarked that if the course of studies which the gymnasium demanded of candidates for all other professions were required of a rabbinical candidate, the latter would be fit for anything except the rabbinate. Still, far from objecting to a secular education for rabbis, as he was understood to do (see Löw, Gesammelte Schriften, ii. 190 et seq.), he favored it; but he thought that a rabbi should first of all possess sufficient knowledge of rabbinical matters; and he proposed that a rabbinical candidate should devote his time chiefly to Jewish subjects until his eighteenth year. His opinions concerning the duties of a rabbi, especially in regard to the instruction of children, show the strong influence that modern views had upon him. He wrote a catechism for religious instruction and submitted it in manuscript to the government. To judge from the letter accompanying it, Benet's views on the education of the young were sensible and in accordance with the spirit of the time.Opposes Religious Reform
Nevertheless, Benet, conscientiously opposing the new tendency, declared every reform in religious observance to be wrong and harmful. Thus, in a letter to the government concerning the introduction of German into divine service (ib. pp. 38–42), he wrote in favor of the preservation of Hebrew. His attitude is significant in view of the fact that, many years later, Zacharias Frankel used the same arguments in the convention of rabbis at Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1845; and events have proved the truth of the prophecy made by Benet, that if the prayers are said in another language few Jews will care to study Hebrew, and familiarity with the Hebrew Scripture will gradually cease.Although Benet was independent in his attitude, his learning and high character gained for him many faithful friends among young and old. Even the Ḥasidim
Hasidim
Hasidim/Chasidim is the plural of Hasid , meaning "pious". The honorific "Hasid" was frequently used as a term of exceptional respect in the Talmudic and early medieval periods. In classic Rabbinic literature it differs from "Tzadik"-"righteous", by instead denoting one who goes beyond the legal...
respected him, and Dovber Schneuri
Dovber Schneuri
Dovber Schneuri was the second Rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch Chasidic movement. Rabbi Dovber was the first Chabad rebbe to live in the town of Lyubavichi , the town for which this Hasidic dynasty is named...
, the "middle rabbi" of Chabad
Chabad
Chabad or Chabad-Lubavitch is a major branch of Hasidic Judaism.Chabad may also refer to:*Chabad-Strashelye, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism*Chabad-Kapust or Kapust, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism...
, speaks highly of him in a letter (as of 1906) in the possession of J. L. Sossnitz of New York. Compare also Weiss
Weiss
Weiss may refer to:* Weiss , including Weiß* Mount Weiss, a mountain located in the Sunwapta River valley of Jasper National Park* USS Weiss , a cancelled John C...
, Zikronotai, pp. 77–81.
The communities of Lichtenstadt
Lichtenstadt
* A German name of Hroznětín* Lichtenstadt is a Jewish pedigree originated from Hroznětín* Rabbi Lichtenstadt , or Lasch, a Bohemian Talmudist* Rabbi Israel Lichtenstadt of Prague* Rabbi Moses Abigdor Lichtenstadt...
and 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...
contended for the honor of interring his mortal remains, and the dispute which later arose over the exhumation of the body was fought with the weapons of learning, and figures in the responsa literature of the time.
Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
- J. A. Benet, Toledot Mordecai Benet, Budapest, 1832
- Berditschewsky, in Ha-Asif, 1887, iv. 61-65
- Ehrentheil, Jüdische Charakterbilder, 1867
- KaufmannKaufmannKaufmann is a surname with many variants such as Kauffmann, Kaufman, and Kauffman. In German, the name means merchant. It is the cognate of the English Chapman . "Kaufmann" may refer to:- Kaufmann :* Aloys P. Kaufmann , Mayor of St...
, in Ha-Asif, v. 129 et seq. - FürthFürthThe 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....
, Sippurim, ii. 201-208