Jacob Barit
| Jakob Barit | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
12 September 1797 Simno, New East Prussia, Prussia |
| Died | 6 March 1883 (aged 85) Vilna, Russia |
Jakob Barit, also known as Yankele Kovner (12 September 1797 – 6 March 1883) was a Russian Talmudist and communal worker. He died in Vilna at the age of 84.
He lost his parents early in life, and at the age of fourteen came to the city of Kovno, where he studied Talmud in the bet ha-midrash of the suburb Slobodka. At the age of eighteen, he married the daughter of a wealthy relative, and with the financial assistance of that relative continued his Talmudic studies for another six years, when his wife died and he removed to Wilna. There he entered the bet hamidrash of Rabbi Hayyim Nachman Parnes, at the same time studying modern languages and sciences; and he soon acquired a fair knowledge of Russian, German, French, algebra, and astronomy. Like many of the Russo-Jewish scholars of that time, he started a whisky distillery business, and with his versatility and energy made quite a success of it. But unfortunately, private distilleries in cities were prohibited by the Russian government by the law of 1845, and as a consequence Barit was financially ruined.
When Sir Moses Montefiore visited Vilna in 1846, he spent considerable time in Barit's house, and was guided by his advice as to the form of the petition to Emperor Nicholas I, on behalf of the oppressed Russian Jews.
In 1850, when Hayyim Parnes established a yeshiva for the education of rabbis, Barit was appointed principal (rosh-yeshibah), a position he held for twenty-five years until sickness forced him to resign. About twenty-five learned Talmudic students attended his lectures daily, and many of the eminent Russian rabbis and scholars were graduates of his yeshivah. He was much admired for the logical and shrewd style of his lectures, which differed much from the scholastic and sophistic style of the Polish Talmudists of his time. While he refused to hold the office of a rabbi, he was for many years one of the dayyanim (judges) of the Wilna community.
His chief merit, in addition to his work in these two posts, was his valuable services rendered to the Jews of Wilna and to those of all Russia in representing their interests before the Russian government. From 1849, when he was chosen as a delegate by the Jewish community of Wilna, he was always the representative speaker on behalf of that important community. In 1852, he was one of the delegates from Wilna to petition the czar Nicholas I in regard to the oppressive conscription duties of the Jews by the ukases of January 8, 1852 and of August 16, 1852. Barit was a man of great tact and political wisdom, a pleasant and impressive speaker and conversationalist. In 1855, when a project was laid before the government to appoint chief rabbis in the capitals of the various governments of Russia, Vladimir Ivanovich Nazimov, then governor-general of Vilna, recommended Barit to be chief rabbi of the government of Vilna.
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