David Meir Frisch

David Meir Frisch (c. 1812-April 25, 1882)[1] was a 19th-century rabbinical authority.

Early life and lineage

Rabbi David Meir Frisch (דוד מאיר פריש) (Dawid Majer Frisch, David Mayer Frisch) was born around 1812[2] in the town of Rohatyn, in western Ukraine, a part of Austria-Hungary at the time. The region was known as Galicia.

Nothing is known of his early years. Neither is the date of his appointment as Rabbi of Berezhany known[3]

An essay[4] by Rabbi Joseph Lewinstein[5] titled "My Kin the "Pene Yehoshua" (Yaakov Yehoshua ben Tzvi Hirsch),[6] traces Rabbi David Meir's lineage to the "Pene Yehoshua".[7]

The maternal fourth generation ancestor of the "Pene Yehoshua", (Joshua Höschel ben Joseph) (1578–1648), himself was the author of a classical commentary on Rashi, the "Meginnei Shelomo" (Amsterdam, 1715), and a collection of responsa, also titled "(Sheeilot uTeshuvot) Pene Yehoshua" (Amsterdam, 1715).

Letter of rabbinical ordination

A copy of his rabbinical ordination letter (Hormana) (הורמנא) from Rabbi Shlomo Kluger (1785–1869) is preserved in the opening pages of his only surviving printed work, the Responsa "Yad Meir", (שו"ת יד מאיר) printed in Lemberg in 1881.

This letter, dated in 1840 in Brody, speaks of Rabbi Frisch in laudatory phrases, attests that he engaged him in Halachic arguments on several occasions and although "I vowed not to issue (letters of ordination) to any one, my vow didn't envisage a person of his stature".

Literary correspondence

Rabbi Frisch addressed queries to many of the rabbinical luminaries of his time, dealing with questions of law, covering all four parts of the Shulchan Aruch, including ritual, marital, monetary and civil matters. To the extent that responsa answering these queries were printed, they appear in the collections of the following luminaries:

Rabbi Shlomo Kluger -approx. 20 responsa

Rabbi Mordechai Zeev Ettinger[8] (1804–1863) - 2 responsa

Rabbi Shlomo Driemer[9] (1800*-1873) - 2 responsa

Rabbi Joseph Saul Nathansohn (1808–1875) - 11 responsa

Rabbi Isaac Aron Ettinga[10] (1827–1891) - 2 responsa

Rabbi Abraham Benjamin Kluger[11](1841–1916)- 1 responsum

Rabbi Samuel Isaac Schorr[12] (1839–1902) - 1 responsum

Rabbi Abraham Teomim[13] (1814–1868) - 1 responsum.

In addition to his responsa in the Yad Meir, two more responsa have been printed in the works of other authors. Two manuscript responsa were published in recent years in two Talmudic journals. Part of this material was printed in softcover in 2005 on the occasion of the marriage of a great-great-granddaughter[14] in Brooklyn, New York.

While the above appears to comprise virtually all that is known of his output, the author in the Foreword of the Yad Meir alludes to "many works" completed by him, going back to the years of his youth, encompassing the entire Babylonian Talmud, another work on the Shulchan Aruch, the Halachot of Niddah, similar in format to the classic "Simlah Chadashah" and the related commentary "Tevuot Shor" of Rabbi Alexander Sender Schor[15] (d. 1737), "a large work"; in addition to a work on Avoth and on the Torah. "I answered many questioners and I give priority to publish [herein] a few of my responsa so that they shall not be forgotten"[16]

At the end of Foreword he alludes that he did not have the means to publish his works and only now, at the prompting of his Rebbetzin, Shaindel, did he print selected responsa "now that our offspring are married off".

The Foreword is dated June 17, 1881. Rabbi David Meir Frisch died ten months later.

Words of Torah quoted in Divrei Shaul

In a recent edition[17] of "Divrei Shaul" of Rabbi Joseph Saul Nathansohn (the "Shaul uMeishiv", as he is known in Talmudic literature), the index cites four instances of quotes from Rabbi David Meir Frisch, "Dayan of Berezhany".[18] Chief Rabbi of Lemberg and a towering giant of the rabbinic world of the 19th century, Rabbi Nathansohn was a native of Berezhany and his father the Gaon Rabbi Arye Leib(ush) Nathanson,[19] himself a Talmudic author,[20] continuned to reside in Berezhany and attended the synagogue of Rabbi David Meir Frisch.[21]

Responsa "Yad Meir"
Front page of the "Yad Meir"

The “Yad Meir” (translated “Hand of Meir”) was published in Lemberg (now Lviv) in 1881, in the year before his passing. It contains 56 responsa (Nos. 1 to 57, with No. 32 missing), most of them addressed to well-known talmudic scholars of his time, including his sons. The numerical value of the Hebrew word “yad” is 14, the same as the value of “David”, the author’s first name. “Yad” is also the acronym of “Yad David”, while Meir is the author’s middle name.[22]

Rather than laity, the majority of the questioners in the Yad Meir were rabbis and rabbinical judges (Av Beit Din (AB"D) or Dayan), but not all are identified. The following questioners are identified:[23]

•Rabbi Joshua Falk Zeev (Wolfsohn),[24] AB"D Akna, Moldavia (#1, 2)

•Rabbi David Silber,[25] Dayan, Berezhany (#3, 5, 20, 27)

•Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein, (1815–1891) AB”D Kolomyia (#4)

•#6 – This responsum, as all the others, is undated and doesn’t identify the questioners other than “all the sages of Podhajce” (now Pidhaitsi, Ukraine). The following served there in a senior rabbinic capacity at the time: Rabbi Simon Melier (1810*-1880*), his son Rabbi Nota Jonah Melier (1850*-1910*), or perhaps Rabbi Simon Lilianfeld (1857–1910)(See #13)

•The Righteous Rabbi Uri of Rohatyn[26] (1820–1889)(#7)

•Rabbi Baruch Frisch (1853-1920*) – son of the author. During World War I refugee in Budapest, returned to Berezhany after it ended, date of his passing unknown.(#11, 37)

•Rabbi Gavriel Menkes,[27] AB”D Sambor (Sambir) (d. 1878) (#12)

•Rabbi Shalom Lilianfeld,[28] AB"D Podhajce (1857–1910)(#13, see also #6)

•Rabbi Simon Melier,[29] AB"D Podhajce (1810*-1880*)(#17, see also #6)

•Rabbi Shlomoh Frisch, (1849–1874) son of the author, died young.(#18, 33)

•Rabbi Joseph Pechier,[30] Dayan, Tysmienica (Tysmenytsia) (#22)

•Rabbi David Ber Leiter,[31] AB"D Zawalow (Zavaliv) (1846–1912) (#24, 25)

•Rabbi Moshe Moshil[32] ", AB”D Teatro, Moldavia (#28)

•Rabbi Eliezer Schatzberg,[33] Dayan, Zborow (Zboriv) (#30)

•Rabbi Israel Arye Frisch[34] – brother of author.(#31)

•Rabbi Abraham Benjamin Kluger, son of the Gaon Rabbi Shlomo Kluger (1841–1916) (#34)

•Rabbi Jonah Melier,[35] AB”D Podhajce (1850–1914) (#35)

•Rabbi Arye Leib(ush) Nathansohn[36] of Berezhany, father of the Gaon Joseph Saul Nathansohn (1790–1873)

•Rabbi Pinchas Burstyn,[37] AB”D Sereth (Siret), Bukovina (1829–1906) (#40, 41)

•Rabbi Mottel Frisch – son of author (#42, 44)

•Rabbi Baruch Meir Frisch[38] AB”D Czortkow (1820*-1899) (#43)

•Rabbi Tuvyah Klahr,[39] scholar, Zborow (Zboriv) (#45)

•Rabbi Samuel Chayim Gabel,[40] Dayan, Tlumacz (Tlumach) (#48)

•Rabbi Bezalel Ginsburg,[41] Dayan, Tarnopol (Ternopil) (#50)

•Rabbi Joel Moskowicz, Schotz,[42] (1810–1886) son-in-law of the Righteous Rabbi Meir of Premyslany (Peremyshliany) (#51)

•Rabbi Samuel Schapira,[43] Dayan, Dobromil (Dobromyl) (1855–1928) (#54)

•Rabbi Israel[44] AB”D, Novoselic, Bessarabia (#55)

•The Righteous Holy Rabbi Meir of Premyslany (Peremyshliany)[45]

•Rabbi Saul Horowitz[46] 7)

The original Yad Meir is out of print, but appears in the catalogs of the Hebrew University Library, The Smithsonian Institution Hebrew Section, The Yeshiva University Library, Jewish Theological Seminary Library, New York Public Library, The catalogue of Hebrew Books in the British Museum, ed. S. Van Straalen, 1894, the large online database http://hebrewbooks.org/523, and others.

Later years

Two young talmudic scholars of rabbinic provenance, Yechiel Mechal Leiter and Yaakov Geller, who studied together, decided to address their Talmudic/Halachic queries to a number of the rabbinical luminaries of their time, and published the responsa received in Lemberg in 1886, under the title “Mazkeret Ahavah” . It includes a short responsum from Rabbi David Meir Frisch, z”tzl..

It is undated. It states that “I received your letter yesterday, but I am bereft of strength and most of the day I am bedridden and the little I do move around in my home, it is hard for me to read…though I usually only respond to practical Halachic questions, but to such lovers and learners of Torah I shall answer two or three of your initial queries, but I cannot read more…”

It appears from the above that Rabbi Frisch had been ill for some time prior to his passing.

Notes
  1. Ivri Anochi periodical, Issue #31, Iyyar 16, 5642 (April 25, 1882) (Funeral notice).
  2. Rabbi Moshe Leiter's estimation. See References.
  3. Although it is likely after 1840, the date of the Letter of Ordination by Rabbi Shlomo Kluger wherein he is referred to as being from Rohatyn, rather than Berezhany.
  4. HaPeles (Hebrew periodical), 5667 (1907), #25, 46ff.
  5. Oholei Shem, p. 365
  6. E.J., 11, 175.
  7. "my kin, the Gaon Rabbi Baruch Meir Frisch (see note#38) head of the rabbinical court of Czortkow, son of the Gaon Rabbi Avigdor Zvi Hirsch Frisch, of Blessed Memory, wrote to me in behalf of his uncle, the Gaon Rabbi David Meir Frisch, head of the rabbinical court of Berzan (Berezhany), author of the Yad Meir, (of his lineage from the Pene Yehoshua), the son of Yehoshua, the son of Baruch, the son of Zvi Hirsch, the son of Samuel, the son of Arye Lev (the latter) the son of the Gaon the Pene Yehoshua (Yaakov Yehoshua ben Tzvi Hirsch)". This makes him the sixth generation descendant of the author of the classic Talmudic commentary "Pene Yehoshua (Yaakov Yehoshua ben Tzvi Hirsch)" (1680–1756).
  8. E.J., 6,953.
  9. Wunder, 1, 833.
  10. Wunder, 1, 124.
  11. Wunder, 4, 472.
  12. Wunder, 5,104.
  13. Wunder, 5, 645
  14. Kunteres Yad Meir, 12 Adar II, 2005, Brooklyn, NY. (private printing)
  15. E. J., 14, 995.
  16. It is likely that these works existed in manuscript form until the Holocaust, in Berezhany. The late Shelly (Shaindel Frisch) Lewkowitz of Tel Aviv (a great-granddaughter of the Yad Meir, who resided in Berezhany until before the Holocaust) related that the daughter-in-law of the Yad Meir, Channah Frisch (widow of Baruch Frisch) maintained manuscripts under lock and key in the Frisch home (at Slowacky 20) in Berezhany, into the late thirties.
  17. Jerusalem, 2007. First printed in Lemberg, 1875-1877.
  18. II 245;255. III 131. V 186.
  19. Wunder, 3, 1028.
  20. "Beth El" novellae on Torah, Lemberg, 1875.
  21. Oral communication from the granddaughter of Rabbi David Meir Frisch.
  22. As explained at the end of the Foreword to the Yad Meir.
  23. The following questioners are not identified: •Rabbi Zvi Hirsch, AB”D Sasow (#10) •Rabbi Joseph Blitz, AB”D (#14, 15) •Rabbi Dov Ber(ish) Speiser (#16) •Rabbi Israel Halevi Hand (#19) •Rabbi Moshe Aron HaLevi Goldring, AB”D Paksan (=Focșani, Romania) Pakshan (=Pașcani, Romania) Wallachia (#21) •Rabbi David Nota, Dayan, Kozowa (Kozova) (#23) •Rabbi Yechiel Kahana, Dayan, Podhajce (#26) •Rabbi Yakov HaCohen (#29) •Rabbi Isaac Zvi Zeev, RAB”D and Dayan, Czortkow (#38,39) •Rabbi Joseph, AB”D, Bursztyn (Burshtyn). (#46) •Rabbi Joseph, AB”D, Bursztyn, (Burshtyn) and his son-in-law Rabbi Judah Haber. (#47) •Rabbi Samuel Orenstein, AB”D, Beremelia , Russia (#49) •Rabbi Joel Laksner, son of the late Rabbi Simchah Joel (#53.
  24. Oholei Shem, p. 325.
  25. Wunder 2, 988.
  26. Wunder, 3, 581.
  27. Wunder, 3, 898.
  28. Wunder, 3, 513
  29. Wunder, 3, 887.
  30. Wunder 4, 80.
  31. Leiter, p. 200.
  32. Not definitive; see Index of Yad Meir, where it is printed AB"D "Piatro. In Responsa Tuv Taam voDaat of Rabbi Shlomo Kluger, 3rd edition, volume I, # 262 and #201 prints "Teatro" or "Teatro, Wallachia. Wallachia and Moldavia were almost identical at the time. Requires further research.
  33. Wunder, 5, 606. Shown as "Elazar"
  34. According to the Index of the Yad Meir, no longer living at the time of printing.
  35. Wunder, 3, 886.
  36. Leiter, p. 197
  37. Wunder 1, 471.
  38. Wunder, 4, 243.
  39. Wunder 4, 552.
  40. Leiter, p. 197.
  41. Wunder, 1, 677
  42. Wunder, 3, 760.
  43. Wunder, 5, 566
  44. Oholei Shem, p. 359; Wunder 2, 772.
  45. E.J., 13, 277.
  46. Oholei Shem, p. 245.

References
  • Lewinstein, Rabbi Joseph “My Kin the Pene Yehoshua”, HaPeles, 5667 (1907), #25, 46ff. (Hebrew).
  • Leiter, Rabbi Moshe “The Gaon Rabbi David Meir Frisch, of Blessed Memory”, HaDarom (rabbinic periodical), Israel, 1968–1969, 28-29 (Hebrew).
  • Manuscript, these responsa were published in two Halachic journals:
    • Kovetz Beth Aharon veYisrael (rabbinic periodical), of Karlin-Stolin, Jerusalem, Year 3, Issue 4 Nissan-Iyar, 5748 (1988). This manuscript is from the collection of the Grand Rabbi of Karlin-Stolin.
    • Kerem Shlomoh (rabbinic periodical) (Bobov), Brooklyn, NY. Part of it published in 1989 (Year 12 Vol. 6, 116. The rest was published in 1999, 203, page 33). This manuscript is from the Saul Hutterer collection, Antwerp.
  • Regarding some conflicting rulings in Berezhany see Shem MiShimon, printed in memory of the Gaon Rabbi Moshe Shimon Zivitz of Pittsburgh, PA, 1965, (Balshan Printers) (Hebrew), page 29.
  • Responsa of Maharash of Radomyshl, Jaroslaw 1908, Part 2, 29.
  • The Responsa of the Gaon Nathan Nota Leiter No. 139, Pittsburgh, PA, Maimonides Foundation, 1964.
  • Responsa Hillulei deRabbi of the Gaon Yechiel Mechal Hubner, second edition, Przemyśl, 1898.
  • Most of the works referenced in this article are listed in the bibliographical lexicon Bet Eked Sepharim of Ch. B. Friedberg, printed in Israel, and covering the period 1474-1950, in 4 volumes (Hebrew).
  • Wunder, Encyclopedia Chachmei Galitzia, ed. Rabbi Meir Wunder, Jerusalem, volumes 1-6, 1978-2005 (Hebrew).
  • E.J., Encyclopaedia Judaica, Jerusalem, 1972, volumes 1-16 (English).
  • Oholei Shem, ed. S.N. Gottlieb, Pinsk, 1912
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