Menachem Meiri

Menachem Meiri
Personal details
Born	1249 Perpignan, Catalonia, Provence
Died	1306 Perpignan, Catalonia

Menachem ben Solomon Meiri (1249 – 1306) was a famous Catalan rabbi, Talmudist and Maimonidean.

Menachem Meiri was born in 1249 in Perpignan, which then formed part of the Principality of Catalonia. He was the student of Rabbi Reuven the son of Chaim of Narbonne, France.

His commentary, the Beit HaBechirah (Literally "The Chosen House," a play on an alternate name for the Temple in Jerusalem employed by Maimonides in his Mishneh Torah, implying that the Meiri's work selects specific content from the Talmud, omitting the discursive elements), is one of the most monumental works written on the Talmud. This work is less a commentary and more of a digest of all of the comments in the Talmud, arranged in a manner similar to the Talmud—presenting first the mishnah and then laying out the discussions that are raised concerning it. This commentary cites many of the major Rishonim, referring to them not by name but rather by distinguished titles.

Much of Beit HaBechirah was published long before the publication of the Parma manuscripts, but it was met with skepticism, due to its character of a secondary source. Only with the new appreciation of secondary sources among haredim has it gained popularity. Thus, it has had much less influence on subsequent halachic development than would have been expected given its stature. Some modern poskim even refuse to take its arguments into consideration, on the grounds that a work so long unknown has ceased to be part of the process of halachic development. This is despite the respect they nevertheless have for the commentary and for its author.

Professor Haym Soloveitchik has remarked on what makes the Beit ha-Behira so unique. First, Soloveitchik summarizes the general trend of Jewish traditional scholarship:

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