Joseph Saul Nathanson

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Joseph Saul Nathanson (1808 - 1875) (Hebrew: יוסף שאול 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 “yeshiva” attracted some of the most brilliant students in Galicia. 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 (for instance he was one of the first to permit the use of machinery in baking Matzah [1]). 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).