Shmuel Eidels (1555 – 1631) ( Shmuel Eliezer HaLevi Eidels) was a renowned
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 ...
and
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 famous for his commentary on the Talmud, ''Chiddushei Halachot''. Eidels is also known as Maharsha (, a Hebrew
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 Shmuel Eidels").
Biography
The Maharsha was born in
Kraków
, officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
. His father, Yehuda,
Yehuda Loew
Judah Loew ben Bezalel (; 1512 – 17 September 1609), also known as Rabbi Loew ( Löw, Loewe, Löwe or Levai), the Maharal of Prague (), or simply the Maharal (the Hebrew acronym of "''Moreinu ha-Rav Loew''", 'Our Teacher, Rabbi Loew'), was an i ...
, the Maharal of Prague, and his father "was a direct descendant of Rabbi Yehuda HaChasid."shidduch
The ''Shidduch'' (, pl. ''shidduchim'' , Aramaic ''shidduchin)'' is a system of matchmaking in which Jewish singles are introduced to one another in Orthodox Jewish communities for the purpose of marriage.
The practice
In the past and until t ...
im (marriage partners), but he rejected them, asserting that he wanted to devote himself solely to Torah study.
He married the daughter of Edel Lifschitz of Posen and the late Moshe Lifschitz, rabbi of Brisk. He then moved to Posen and, with his mother-in-law's financial help, 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 ...
there.[ She supported it for over 2 decades, including "taking care of every bachur's needs."
In appreciation of her support he adopted her name. After her death, he served as rabbi in the following prominent communities: Chelm (1610),]Lublin
Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...
, Tiktin and Ostroh
Ostroh ( , ) is a city in Rivne Oblast, western Ukraine. It is situated on the Horyn River. Ostroh was the administrative center of Ostroh Raion until 2020, but as a city of oblast significance did not belong to the raion. Currently the city is ...
. Eidels was also active in the Council of Four Lands
The Council of Four Lands (, ''Va'ad Arba' Aratzot'', ) was the central body of Jewish authority in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from the second half of the 16th century to 1764, located in Lublin. The Council's first law is recorded as h ...
.
His son-in-law was R. Moses ben Isaac Bonems of Lublin, who authored his own