Mordecai ben Abraham Benet (, also Marcus Benedict; 1753–1829) was a
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 chief rabbi of
Moravia
Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The medieval and early ...
.
Biography
He was born at
Csurgó
Csurgó (formerly ''Somogy-Csurgó''; or ) is a town in Somogy County, Hungary, and the seat of Csurgó District.
The settlement is part of the Balatonboglár wine region.
Geography
It lies on the southwestern part of Somogy County, near the ...
, a small village in the county of
Stuhlweissenburg,
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
. 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
Nikolsburg
Mikulov (; ) is a town in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,600 inhabitants. From the 16th to the 19th century, it was the cultural centre of the Jewish community of Moravia. The historic centr ...
. There
Gabriel Markbreiter provided for the tuition of the gifted child for a period of 6 years, and then sent him to
Rabbi Jacob Pinhas Katzelenbogen who served as Rabbi in
Oettingen,
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 ...
, which was also a relative of Markbreiter. The latter became Benet's teacher, and took great delight in his pupil's wonderful development. At Benet's
Bar Mitzvah
A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Halakha, Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age ...
(religious majority) celebration his teacher showed the guests, to their great astonishment, three of the boy's manuscripts—a commentary on the
Pentateuch
The Torah ( , "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. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () o ...
, a commentary on the
Passover Haggadah
The Haggadah (, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a foundational Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table fulfills the mitzvah incumbent on every Jew to rec ...
, and