Joseph Saul Nathanson

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Joseph Saul Nathanson (1808 - 1875) (Hebrew: יוסף בן אריה הלוי) was a Polish rabbi and posek, and a leading rabbinical authority of his day.

[edit] Biography

Rabbi Nathanson was born at Berezhany (Berzan), Galicia (Central Europe) (today's western Ukraine); he was the son of Aryeh Lebush Nathanson, rabbi at Berzan and author of "Bet El." He studied Talmud at Lviv (Lemberg) together with his brother-in-law Mordecai Zeeb Ettinger. In the 1830s in Lemberg - then under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Hapsburg Empire - he founded an informal study-group under his tutelage. This study-group type of “yeshiva” attracted some of the most brilliant students in Galicia to come and study with the great scholar. In 1857 Nathanson was elected rabbi of Lemberg, where he officiated for eighteen years. He was widely recognized as a rabbinical authority, and was asked to rule on various contemporary issues; his rulings are still widely cited. Rabbi Nathanson was very wealthy, and was known for his activity as a philanthropist. He died at Lemberg March 4, 1875.

[edit] Works

Rabbi Nathanson is author of:

"Mefareshe ha-Yam" (Lemberg, 1828), in cooperation with Mordecai Zeeb Ettinger: notes by Joshua Heschel on the "Yam ha-Talmud," to which they appended their own respona;
"Me'irat 'Enayim" (Wilna, 1839), on the ritual examination of the lungs;
"Magen Gibborim" (Lemberg, part i., 1832; part ii., 1837), on Shulkhan Arukh, Orach Chayim;
"Yad Yosef" and "Yad Sha'ul," on the Shulkhan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah (Lemberg, 1851);
"Ner Ma'arabi", on the Jerusalem Talmud;
"Haggahot ha-Shass", critical notes on the Talmud;
"Ma'ase Alfas", commentary on Isaac Alfasi;
"Sho'el u-Meshiv", responsa (Lemberg, 1865-79);
"Dibre Sha'ul ve-Yosif Da'at", responsa (ib. 1879).