Shabsai Frankel (August 13, 1909 – September 30, 2000) was a

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

, businessman,

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

, and publisher of

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

books.HaRav Shabsai Frankel, zt"l
His father, Rabbi Yosef Frankel was a prominent Gerrer Hasid in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

whose son Alexander married a granddaughter of Rabbi

Avraham Mordechai Alter Avraham Mordechai Alter ( pl, Abraham Mordekhaj Alter, he, אברהם מרדכי אלתר; 25 December 1865 – 3 June 1948), also known as the ''Imrei Emes'' after the works he authored, was the fourth Rebbe of the Hasidic dynasty of Ger, a pos ...

, the Gerrer

Rebbe A Rebbe ( yi, רבי, translit=rebe) or Admor ( he, אדמו״ר) is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties.Heilman, Samuel"The Rebbe and the Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism."''Religion and Spiritu ...

. Rabbi Shabsai married the daughter of Rabbi Yosef Nechemya Kornitzer, who was a great grandson of the Chasam Sofer and the Chief Rabbinical Justice in Krakow. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Rabbi Shabsai fled Poland for

Vilna Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional ur ...

, Lithuania. From there, he eventually immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. In America, Rabbi Shabsai joined with the likes of Rabbi Refael Reuvain Grozovsky in helping save

European Jews The history of the Jews in Europe spans a period of over two thousand years. Some Jews, a Judaean tribe from the Levant, Natural History 102:11 (November 1993): 12–19. migrated to Europe just before the rise of the Roman Empire. A notable ea ...

from the horrors of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. In 1970, after succeeding in business, Rabbi Shabsai moved to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

to fulfill his lifelong dream: He wished to publish a new, corrected edition of the Rambam's

Mishneh Torah The ''Mishneh Torah'' ( he, מִשְׁנֵה תּוֹרָה, , repetition of the Torah), also known as ''Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka'' ( he, ספר יד החזקה, , book of the strong hand, label=none), is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law (''h ...

. Many of the Gedolim there helped Rabbi Shabsai realize his mission. Rabbi Shabsai established an elite

Kollel A kollel ( he, כולל, , , a "gathering" or "collection" f scholars is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim (lectures) and learning ''sedarim'' (sessions); ...

of select Talmudic scholars who would actually put together the new print of Maimonides' works as well as a comprehensive index of various other rabbinical commentaries and citations who dealt with Maimonides' rulings. Rabbi Shabsai funded this Kollel from his own fortune. The first volume was printed in 1973 and the last was finished in 2007. Even before the work was completed, The Shabtai Frankel edition of Maimonides' works gained fame and recognition in the

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are stu ...

world (although it was initially softly criticised by Rabbi

Berel Soloveitchik Berel (Yosef Dov) Soloveichik (1915–1981) was a rabbi and the son of Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveichik and one of the leading Rosh Yeshivas ("heads of the yeshiva") of the Brisk yeshivas in Jerusalem. He was a first cousin to Rabbi Joseph B. So ...

). As part of his ambitious endeavor, Rabbi Shabsai received a blessing from Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky who said that Rabbi Shabsai should merit to live seeing all the volumes of his edition published. Nonetheless, when Rabbi Frankel took a break from printing his edition of Maimonides' works and instead invested in comprehensive indices from the tractates

Bava Kamma Bava Kamma ( tmr, בָּבָא קַמָּא, translit=Bāḇā Qammā, translation=The First Gate) is the first of a series of three Talmudic tractates in the order Nezikin ("Damages") that deal with civil matters such as damages and torts. The o ...

and

Bava Basra Bava Batra (also Baba Batra; Talmudic Aramaic: בָּבָא בַּתְרָא "The Last Gate") is the third of the three Talmudic tractates in the Talmud in the order Nezikin; it deals with a person's responsibilities and rights as the owner of p ...

, he died on Rosh Hashana, 2000, at the age of 91.Deiah veDibur
His index on Bava Basra was printed after his death and was named in his memory "Raza D'Shabsai".

References

External links

Shabsai Frankel Publishers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frankel, Shabsai 1909 births 2000 deaths Ger (Hasidic dynasty) Haredi rabbis in Europe Haredi rabbis in Israel