Rabbi
Moshe Isserles - REMA
Born:
Cracow, Poland, c. 1520
Died: Cracow, Poland, 1572
Rabbi Moshe Isserles, popularly known as Rema (the initials of his name), was
a scion of a prominent and wealthy family. His
father and grandfather were leaders of the
Jewish community. The famous Rema Shul, a synagogue in Cracow, built
by his father, survived the Holocaust.
As a young boy he was known as an illui (prodigy). He studied in Lublin
at the famous Shalom Shachna Yeshiva where
he met his first wife, Schachna's daughter.
Isserles remarried the sister of Yoseph
ben Morechai Gershon
Ha-Cohen.
As the rabbi of Cracow, he was very active in disseminating Torah
knowledge, and he founded a prestigious
yeshivah. Rema is one of the first Torah personalities
to establish the spiritual predominance of Polish Jewry. It has
been
said that Rema is the Maimonides of Polish Jewry. He lived in the age of the
codification of the Talmud, and he corresponded with Rabbi
Yosef Karo, author of the Shulchan
Aruch, the most influential work in the field. Rema
was
an admirer and at the same time a critic of the Shulchan Aruch, disapproving
of the fact that its rulings are based primarily on decisions of Sephardi
authorities, excluding Ashkenazi customs and traditions.
He
composed glosses on those paragraphs of the Shulchan Aruch in which he
differs from the author, stating the Halacha as it
has been decided by the Ashkenazi
authorities, which is binding on Ashkenazi Jews. It should be noted that
these halachic differences concern only peripheral matters of custom and
tradition.
Rema named his glosses Mappah ("Tablecloth"), as a
"cover" for the Shulchan Aruch ("the
Set Table"). These glosses have been incorporated into the text and
are distinguishable in that they are printed in Rashi script.
This consolidation of the two works symbolizes the underlying unity of the
Sephardi and Ashkenazi communities. It is thru this
unification that the
Shulchan Aruch became
the universally accepted Code of Law for the entire Jewish
people.
Not only was the Rema well versed in Talmud, he also studied Kabbalah and
Jewish mystical writings, as well as history,
astronomy and Greek philosophy.
He is considered one of the forerunners of the Jewish enlightenment. He wrote
33 books and was buried next to his synagogue.
Thousands of pilgrims visited his grave
annually on Lag Ba-Omer
(his death anniversary), until the Second World
War.
May the Merit of the Tzaddik Rabbi Moshe
Isserles
protect
us all, Amen.