Abraham Maskileison

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Abraham Maskileison (1788—1848) was a Jewish scholar, rabbi and author active in Tsarist Russia during the first half of the 19th century.

Rabbi Maskileison was a descendant of another Talmudic scholar, Israel Jaffe of Shklov, author of "Or Yisrael". Maskileison discharged his rabbinical duties in many cities and, in his later years, went to Minsk, where he remained until his death at the age of about 60. Having no desire to use his cabalistic knowledge for gain, as was done by the miracle-working rabbis, he devoted his whole life to study of the Torah and the Talmud. He lived in comparative poverty, being satisfied with only a small income.

[edit] Works

Abraham Maskileison wrote the following works:

• Maskil le-Eisan(1818). Shklov. Novellæ on parts of Moed and Kodoshim, printed with the approbations of Saul Katzenellenbogen of Vilno and Manasseh Iliyer.
• Be'er Avraha (1848). Vilno. Novellæ on the remaining parts of the Talmud.
• He rearranged and republished with his own footnotes Seder HaDoros written by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Heilprin (1660-1746).

Abraham Maskileison's posthumously published works were:

• Nachal Eisan (1859). Vilno. Novellæ on the first two parts of Maimonides' Yad ha-Ḥazaḳah
• Mitzpeh Eisan (1858-64). Zhitomir; (1880-86). Vilno. Notes on the Talmud (published in the back of the Vilna Edition Shas)
• Yad Abraham (1888). Vilno. Novellæ on Yoreh De'ah; notes on Sifre
• Ahavas Eisan, novallae on Ein Yaakov

[edit] References

• Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 41
• Eisenstadt-Ben Zion, Rabbane Minsk, pp. 27-43
• Benjacob, Oẓar ha-Sefarim, pp. 132, 133, 376, 395; preface (by Abraham Maskileison's son) to Naḥal Etan

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