Yaakov ben Moshe Levi Moelin () (c. 1365 – September 14, 1427) was a

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ist and ''

posek In Jewish law, a ''posek'' ( , pl. ''poskim'', ) is a legal scholar who determines the application of ''halakha'', the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah, in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities are incon ...

'' (authority on

Jewish law ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mit ...

) best known for his codification of the customs (''

minhag ''Minhag'' ( "custom", classical pl. מנהגות, modern pl. מנהגים, ''minhagim'') is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism. A related concept, '' Nusach'' (נוסח), refers to the traditional order and form of the pra ...

im'') of the

German Jews The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...

. He is also known as Maharil () - the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

for "Our Teacher, the

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 t ...

, Yaakov

Levi Levi ( ; ) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's third son), and the founder of the Israelites, Israelite Tribe of Levi (the Levites, including the Kohanim) and the great-grandfather of Aaron ...

" - as well as ''Mahari Segal'' or ''Mahari Moelin''. Maharil's ''Minhagim'' was a source of law for

Moses Isserles Moses Isserles (; ; 22 February 1530 / 25 Adar I 5290 – 11 May 1572 / 18 Iyar 5332), also known by the acronym Rema, was an eminent Polish Ashkenazi rabbi, talmudist, and '' posek'' (expert in Jewish law). He is considered the "Maimonides o ...

’ component of the ''

Shulkhan Arukh The ''Shulhan Arukh'' ( ),, often called "the Code of Jewish Law", is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Rabbinic Judaism. It was authored in the city of Safed in what is now Israel by Joseph Karo in 1563 and published in V ...

''.

Biography

''Maharil'' was the son and pupil of Moshe Levi Moelin,

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

, and a pupil of R. Shalom b. Isaac ( he) of

Wiener Neustadt Wiener Neustadt (; Lower_Austria.html" ;"title=".e. Lower Austria">.e. Lower Austria , ) is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administr ...

. At a young age, Moelin was recognized as a budding scholar. In 1387, he succeeded his father as Rabbi of Mainz. He established a

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; 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 studied in parallel. The stu ...

in Mainz which attracted many students. One of his most noteworthy students was

Jacob Weil Jacob Ben Judah Weil, later known as Mahariv () was a German rabbi and ''posek'' who as one of the ''Rishonim'', was an active Talmudic authority during the first half of the fifteenth century. Early life Weil's main teacher was Jacob Moelin (th ...

. Moelin lived through the mass slaughter of Jews in Austria in 1420 and the

Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, a ...

in 1421, which brought suffering to the Jews of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

and the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

; see

History of the Jews in Germany The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...

. ''Maharil'' played an important role in rebuilding these communities. He died in September 14, 1427 and was buried in the Jewish Cemetery of Worms. Moelin composed ''

piyyutim A piyyuṭ (plural piyyuṭim, ; from ) is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, chanted, or recited during religious services. Most piyyuṭim are in Mishnaic Hebrew or Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, and most follow some p ...

'' for the synagogue. He was also a notable ''

Hazzan A ''hazzan'' (; , lit. Hazan) or ''chazzan'' (, plural ; ; ) is a Jewish musician or precentor trained in the vocal arts who leads the congregation in songful prayer. In English, this prayer leader is often referred to as a cantor, a term al ...

'' who famously ruled that traditional melodies should not be changed. Some traditional melodies attributed to him were still in use in pre-World War II Mainz. He appears also to have been familiar with the study of

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

Works

''Maharil's'' best known work is ''Minhagei Maharil'', also known as ''Sefer ha-Maharil'' or simply the ''Minhagim (customs)''. It contains a detailed description of religious observances and rites, at home and in the

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

, and thus provides an authoritative outline of the ''

im'' of the

. It also contains sermons and textual comments. It was compiled by Moelin's student,

Zalman of St. Goar Zalman of St. Goar (Eleazar ben Jacob) was a 15th-century Ashkenazi Jewish rabbi and historical chronicler from Sankt Goar in the Rhineland of Germany. A student and secretary of Yaqob ben Moses ha-Levi Molin, also known as Maharil, he was the auth ...

, and was first published - with various additions - at

Sabbioneta Sabbioneta () is a town and in the province of Mantua, Lombardy region, Northern Italy. It is situated about north of Parma, not far from the northern bank of the Po River. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages o ...

, in 1556 and frequently thereafter. It had a great influence on the Jews of

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

and was largely responsible for the importance attached to ''minhag'' in these communities. This book is frequently quoted in the codes and commentaries - including

Moshe Isserles Moses Isserles (; ; 22 February 1530 / 25 Adar I 5290 – 11 May 1572 / 18 Iyar 5332), also known by the acronym Rema, was an eminent Polish Ashkenazi rabbi, talmudist, and ''posek'' (expert in Jewish law). He is considered the "Maimonides of ...

who cites ''Maharil'' frequently in the ''

'' - and has become a valuable source for later scholars (Achronim). Another pupil of Moelin, Eleazer b. Jacob, collected some of Moelin's ''

responsa ''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars i ...

;'' these were published in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

in 1549. Many more of Moelin's ''responsa'' remained in manuscript. These were collected and edited by Rabbi Yitzhak Satz, and, published in 1977 under the title ''SHuT Maharil heChadashot'' ("New Responsa of Yaakov Molin"). Recently, the German

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthod ...

scholar Georg Dehn has argued that the MaHaRIL was also the author of ''

The Book of Abramelin ''The Book of Abramelin'' tells the story of an Egyptian mage named Abraham, or Abra-Melin, who taught a system of magic to Abraham of Worms, a Jew from Worms, Germany, presumed to have lived from to . The system of magic from this book regai ...

'', which he wrote under the pseudonym of Abraham von Worms. However, this is disputed.

Text of Minhagei Maharil

Unlike traditional books, the text of ''Minhagei Maharil'' was never fixed. In his critical edition of Minhagei Maharil, Shlomo Shpitzer surveyed 22 manuscripts of the work and noted that "The only thing common between them was that no on text was like the other." As such, there is great importance to every early version of the work. In 1989,

Machon Yerushalayim Machon (Ancient Greek: Μάχων, fl. 3rd century BC) was a playwright of the New Comedy. He was born in Corinth or Sicyon, and lived in Alexandria. It is said that he taught the grammarian Aristophanes of Byzantium. Two fragments from two of h ...

published a critical edition of the work, edited by Shlomo Shpitzer. In 2024, Wieder Press published a facsimile edition of the RSL Ginzburg 979 manuscript which wasn't available to Shpitzer when he did his work.

Notes

External links

Jacob ben Moses Mölln (MaHaRIL)
jewishencyclopedia.com

yarzheit.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Moelin, Yaakov ben Moshe 1360s births 1427 deaths 14th-century German rabbis 15th-century German rabbis Authors of books on Jewish law Hazzans Jewish liturgical poets Rabbis from Mainz Exponents of Jewish law