Rabbi Moses Isserles | |
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The Rema | |
Moses Isserles (Artist's rendering)
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Personal details | |
Birth name | Mojżesz ben Israel Isserles |
Born |
Kraków, Poland |
February 22, 1520
Died | May 11, 1572 Kraków, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth |
(aged 52)
Buried | Kraków, Poland |
Nationality | Polish |
Moses Isserles (Hebrew: משה בן ישראל איסרלישׂ, Polish: Mojżesz ben Israel Isserles) (February 22, 1520 / Adar I , – May 11, 1572 / Iyar , ), was an eminent Polish Ashkenazic rabbi, talmudist, and posek.
Isserles was born in Kraków, Poland. His father, Israel (known as Isserl), was a prominent talmudist and independently wealthy, who had probably headed the community; his grandfather, Jehiel Luria, was the first rabbi of Brisk. (In an era which preceded the common use of surnames, Moses became known by his patronymic, Isserles.) He studied in Lublin under Rabbi Shalom Shachna, who later became his father-in-law. Among his fellow pupils were his relative Solomon Luria (Maharshal)—later a major disputant of many of Isserles' halachic rulings, and Chayyim b. Bezalel, an older brother of the Maharal. Rema’s first wife died young, at the age of 20 and he later established the "Rema Synagogue" in Kraków in her memory (originally his house, built by his father in his honor—which he gave to the community). He later married the sister of Joseph ben Mordechai Gershon Ha-Kohen.