Ephraim Zalman Margolioth

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Ephraim Zalman Margolioth (Dec. 19, 1762–Aug. 24, 1828) (Hebrew: אפרים זלמן בן מנחם מרגליות) was a Galician rabbi born in Brody. He received his Talmudic education at different yeshibot, in which he distinguished himself for the acuteness of his intellect and for his astonishing memory. His correspondence with Ezekiel Landau and other leading Talmudists soon gained for him a high reputation. He established a banking-house which proved so successful that within a short time he became quite wealthy. In 1785 he published his responsa entitled Bet Ḥadash ha-Ḥadashot, and in the following year the rabbis of Brody elected him one of their number. Being of independent means, he opened in his house a yeshibah of which he was the head; several of his pupils became eminent rabbis.

Margolioth was considered a high rabbinical authority. He published the following works:

  • Bet Efrayim (2 vols., Lemberg, 1809-10), commentary on parts of the Shulhan Aruk, Yoreh De'ah
  • Oration at the funeral of R. Meir Kristianopoler (ib. 1815)
  • Bet Efrayim (4 parts, ib. 1818), responsa on the four parts of the Shulḥan 'Aruk
  • Yad Efrayim (Dubno, 1820), commentaries on Shulḥan 'Aruk, Oraḥ Ḥayyim
  • Sha'are Efrayim (ib. 1820), on the rules pertaining to the reading of the Law
  • Yad Efrayim (Zolkiev, 1823), extensive commentaries on the names of men and of women to be employed in letters of divorce
  • Shem Efrayim (Berdychev, 1826), commentary on the Pentateuch
  • Maṭṭeh Efrayim (Zolkiev, 1834), on the ritual laws to be observed from the beginning of the month of Elul until after the Feast of Tabernacles, as well as on the regulations regarding the Ḳaddish of orphans
  • Zera' Efrayim (Lemberg, 1853), commentary on the Pesiḳta Rabbati.

Many other works by him are still in manuscript (as of 1906).


[edit] Jewish Encyclopedia Bibliography

  • Walden, Shem ha-Gedolim he-Ḥadash, p. 21, Warsaw, 1864;
  • Kluger, Toledot Shelomoh, p. 33, Lemberg, 1888;
  • S. J. Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 327, Warsaw, 1886;
  • Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 511;
  • En Dimah (oration delivered at Margolioth's funeral), Zolkiev, 1834.


This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.

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