Solomon ben Judah Aaron Kluger (1785–June 9, 1869) (), known as the Maggid of Brody, was chief
dayyan and preacher of
Brody
Brody (, ; ; ; ) is a city in Zolochiv Raion, Lviv Oblast, Zolochiv Raion, Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine. It is located in the valley of the upper Styr, Styr River, approximately northeast of the oblast capital, Lviv. Brody hosts the administrati ...
,
Galicia. He was successively
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 ...
at
Rava-Ruska
Rava-Ruska (, ; ; ) is a city in Lviv Raion, Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine. It is a border town between Ukraine and Poland. The Rava-Ruska (border checkpoint), border checkpoint is situated west of the city, along the international autoroute Warsa ...
(Galicia),
Kulikow (Galicia), and
Józefów
Józefów () is a town in east-central Poland, located in Masovian Voivodeship, in Otwock County. It lies about southeast of Warsaw city centre and is a part of that city's metropolitan area. Located on a picturesque confluence of Vistula and Ś ...
(
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 ...
), preacher at Brody, and Rabbi at
Brezany (Galicia) and, again, at Brody (where he held the offices of Dayan and preacher for more than fifty years). He died at Brody on June 9, 1869.
[
]
Biography
Shlomo Kluger was born in Komarow, in what is now Chervonohrad Raion
Sheptytskyi Raion () is a Raions of Ukraine, raion (district) of Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It was known as Chervonohrad Raion () from 2020 until 2024. The center of the raion is the city of Sheptytskyi. Population:
History
From the 12th century, th ...
, Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
.
Rabbinic career
As one of the leading rabbinic authorities of his day, Kluger issued rulings on many complex halachic questions. One of his most notable decisions was that not only did machine made matzo Matzo is a spelling variant for matzah
Matzah, matzo, or maẓẓah ('','' : matzot or Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashk. matzos) is an Unleavened bread, unleavened flatbread that is part of Jewish cuisine and forms an integral element of the Passover ...
not meet the halachic requirements necessary to properly fulfill the requirement of eating matzo on Pesach
Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt.
According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...
, but that it very possibly had the status of leavened bread, consumption of which is strictly prohibited on Pesach.[ The issue evolved into a significant controversy, many points of which are still debated today. Kluger, in the course of his research into the subject, came to the conclusion that he had received a somewhat inaccurate description of the technical operational details of the machines, and modified his position accordingly.
Kluger was well known for his fierce opposition to 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, and his firm adherence to tradition. In his responsa, Kluger discusses an incident where a group gathered to study the controversial works of Moses Mendelssohn
Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the ''Haskalah'', or 'J ...
. A quarrel erupted, and Mendelssohn's books were seized and burnt. Kluger wrote that while the burning of the books was probably not the appropriate course of action, they were certainly correct to be enraged and to protest the study of Mendelssohn's work. Kluger explained that he saw fit to condemn Mendelssohn and his works for several reasons. Among his arguments, he wrote ...and furthermore, go out and see what his students, and all those who study his books, are - they are all complete evildoers... And his books are not studied except by the most worthless people, who violate the whole Torah... And every person who fears heaven flees from him like from a snake or scorpion.
Published works
During his long life Rabbi Kluger wrote a great number of works—one hundred and sixty volumes. He wrote on all the branches of rabbinical literature as well as on Biblical
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...
and Talmudic
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 ...
exegesis.[ Many of these writings remain in manuscript form. Among his published works are:
* ''Ha-elef lekha Shelomo'' - Responsa. First published posthumously in 1910.
* ''Sefer Ha-Chayim'' (Zolkiev, 1825), ]