Yisroel ben Shmuel Ashkenazi of Shklov (; c. 1770 – May 22, 1839) was a

Lithuanian Jewish {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Litvaks , image = , caption = , poptime = , region1 = {{flag, Lithuania , pop1 = 2,800 , region2 = {{flag, South Africa , pop2 = 6 ...

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, one of a group of Talmudical scholars of

Shklov Shklow is a town in Mogilev Region, Belarus, located north of Mogilev on the Dnieper River. It serves as the administrative center of Shklow District. It has a railway station on the line between Orsha and Mogilev. In 2009, its population was ...

who were attracted to

Vilna 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 ...

by Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, known as the

Vilna Gaon Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, ( ''Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman''), also known as the Vilna Gaon ( ''Der Vilner Goen''; ; or Elijah of Vilna, or by his Hebrew acronym Gr"a ("Gaon Rabbenu Eliyahu": "Our great teacher Elijah"; Sialiec, April 23, 172 ...

(1720–97). He was one of "the last arrivals," and attended upon the Gaon as a disciple for less than a year. He gained the Vilna Gaon's confidence, and was chosen to arrange for publication the Gaon's commentary to the first two parts of the ''

Shulchan Aruch 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 ...

''. That on the ''

Orach Chaim ''Orach Chayim'' ("manner/way of life") is a section of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation of Halakha (Jewish law), ''Arba'ah Turim''. This section addresses aspects of Jewish law pertinent to the Hebrew calendar (be it the daily, weekly, mont ...

'' was published in Shklov in 1803. Ashkenazi also published his master's notes to the tractate

Shekalim A shekel or sheqel (; , , plural , ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly 11 grams (0.35 ozt)—and became currency in ancient Tyre, Carthage and Hasmonean Judea. Name The wor ...

of the

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud (, often for short) or Palestinian Talmud, also known as the Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century Jewish oral tradition known as the Mishnah. Naming this version of the Talm ...

, with a commentary of his own, under the title ''Tiklin Chadtin''See Mishnah Shekalim 6:5. (Minsk, 1812). Later he emigrated to

Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria () is a historiographical term used to describe the group of divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of the Levant, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Ara ...

and became the head of the German and Polish congregations of

Safed Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...

and then of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. He was there surnamed "

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

" (the "German"), a name applied to all Jews of German extraction, in contradistinction to the

Sephardim Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendan ...

, who came originally from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. After a residence of several years in the Holy Land, Ashkenazi went to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

as a ShaDaR (emissary of the rabbis), to collect alms for the poor

Palestinian Jew Palestinian Jews or Jewish Palestinians (; ) were the Jews who inhabited Palestine (alternatively the Land of Israel) prior to the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948. Beginning in the 19th century, the colle ...

s residing at the Yishuv haYashan, and in that capacity he traveled through

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

and other parts of what was then

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. On his return to Palestine he wrote his chief work, ''Pe'at ha-Shulchan,'' which is intended as a sort of supplement to the ''Shulchan Aruch'', supplying all the agricultural laws obligatory only in the Holy Land, omitted by rabbi

Joseph Caro Joseph ben Ephraim Karo, also spelled Yosef Caro, or Qaro (; 1488 – March 24, 1575, 13 Nisan 5335 A.M.), was a prominent Sephardic Jewish rabbi renowned as the author of the last great codification of Jewish law, the ''Beit Yosef'', and its ...

in his code. He also incorporated in this book the notes of Elijah of Vilna (the Gaon) to the tractate Zera'im, the first order of the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

, and gave in addition a voluminous commentary of his own which he called ''Beit Yisrael.'' The work was published in Safed in 1836 by the printing-house of Yisrael ben Avraham Back. Ashkenazi is also the author of ''Nachalah u-Menuchah,'' a collection of

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 ...

mentioned in the work above. An account of his rabbinate of Jerusalem is given in Mendel ben Aaron's ''Kore ha-'Ittim'' (Vilna, 1840). Ashkenazi died at

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...

on May 22, 1839.

Notes

References

;Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography *Heschel Lewin, '' 'Aliyyat Eliyahu,'' p. 74, Wilna, 1854, and Stettin, 1862; * Fuenn, ''Keneset Yisrael,'' s.v. Israel ben Samuel; * Fürst, Bibl. Jud. i. 63; * Eliezer of Botushan, ''Ḳin'at Soferim,'' 1892, s.v. Elijah Wilna.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shklov, Yisroel ben Shmuel of 1770s births 1839 deaths 19th-century Lithuanian rabbis Ashkenazi rabbis in Ottoman Palestine Rabbis in Safed 19th-century rabbis from the Ottoman Empire Burials at the Old Jewish Cemetery, Tiberias People from Shklow Shelichei derabonan (rabbis)