Mordecai Plungian (Marcus Plungianski; 1814-1883) was a Lithuanian
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 ...
,
Talmudist
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 ...
, and
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 ...
author associated with the ''
maskilim
The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Europe and th ...
'', or the writers of the ''
haskalah
The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Wester ...
'' movement (the Jewish enlightenment).
Biography
He was born in
Plungė
Plungė (; Samogitian: ''Plongė''; ) is a city in Lithuania with 17,252 inhabitants. Plunge is the capital of the Plungė District Municipality which has 33,251 inhabitants (2022). Two parts of the city are separated by the Babrungas River and ...
and built a reputation as a Talmudist at a young age before moving to
Troki, where his new ideas offended the ultra-conservatives, so he moved to
Wilna
Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
, where he gave rabbinical lectures and began secular studies, including European literature and languages. He got a job as a high school teacher before becoming an instructor of Talmud at the rabbinical seminary in 1867. The seminary closed in 1873, and he worked as a corrector in a printing office.
Plungian was a descendant of
Mordecai Jaffe. He was a friend of
Alexander Harkavy.
Plungian was accused by the liberals of being a conservative, but angered the Orthodox as well who accused him of heresy.
His 1856 book ''Ben Porat'' was the subject of a censorship controversy, but he received assistance from
Abraham Firkovich
Abraham (Avraham) ben Samuel Firkovich (Hebrew - ''Avraham ben Shmuel''; Karayce: Аврагъам Фиркович - ''Avragham Firkovich'') (Sept. 27, 1786–June 7, 1874) was a famous Karaite writer and archaeologist, collector of ancient ...
. The work was a biography of
Manasseh of Ilya.
He died in Wilna in 1883.
Works and further reading
*''Talpiyyot'' (Wilna, 1849), on the
hermeneutic
Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. As necessary, hermeneutics may include the art of understanding and communication.
...
rule ''Gezerah Shawah'' in the
Babylonian 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 modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewi ...
*''Ben Porat'' (1856), biography of Manasseh of Ilya
*''Shebeṭ Eloah'' (ib. 1862), arguments against
blood libel
Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mu ...
*''Or Boḳer'' (ib. 1868), critical treatises on the
Masorah as interpreted in the Talmud
*''Kerem li-Shelomoh'' (1857), a commentary on
Kohelet
Ecclesiastes ( ) is one of the Ketuvim ('Writings') of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly used in English is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew word ...
**
**
*
*
National Library of Israel
''Jewish Encyclopedia'' bibliography
*''Ha-Shaḥar'', xi. 635;
*N. Nathanson, ''Sefat Emet'', Warsaw, 1887;
*
Zeitlin Zeitlin () is a matronymic Jewish surname. It is derived from the female name Zeitl according to the rules of Slavic languages, with the possessive suffix '-in' and literally means "Zeitl's".
When transliterated from Yiddish to Russian to English, ...
,
Bibl. Post-Mendels'. p. 272;
*''Kerem Ḥemed'', ix. 136;
*''Ha-Meliẓ'', 1883, Nos. 89, 91.
References
{{Jewish-bio-stub
1814 births
1883 deaths
Lithuanian rabbis
19th-century Lithuanian Jews
Bible commentators
People of the Haskalah