Rabbi Moshe Shik (unknown location, Slovakia, 1807-Chust, 1879) (Hebrew משה שיק) was a Rosh Yeshiva and Posek, and one of the leading Hungarian rabbis of his time [1].[1]
In rabbinical commentary Shik is commonly known as the Maharam Shik(מהר"ם שיק); Maharam is the acronym for Moreinu Harav Moishe, which means "Our Teacher the Rabbi Moshe" in Hebrew. The spelling of his surname varies, including Shick, Schick, and Shieck; the surname is itself an acronym for "Shem Yisrael Kadosh" ("a holy, Jewish name"), a surname chosen by Maharam Shik's grandfather, when the Jews of Austro-Hungary were required to take on surnames [2]; see History of the Jews in Hungary: Under Joseph II (1780-1790).
Moshe Shik was born in Slovakia, the son of Rabbi Joseph Schick. The family were descended from Rabbi Hanoch Heinich Schick of Shklov who is said to have married a daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Rivlin. This Shlomo Zalman had a first cousin of the same name, who was the father of the Gaon of Vilna. Although various sources give differing genealogies of Rabbi Hanochs' ancestry, there is no doubt that he was descended from two famous scholars, Rabbi Yomtov Lipman Heller, and Rabbi Meir Katzenellenbogen of Padua, the "Maharam Padua".
At the age of 11, Moshe Shik was sent to study with his uncle, Rabbi Yitzchak Frankel, the Av Beth Din in Regensdorf. When he was 14, he was sent to learn under Moses Sofer in Pressburg, where he stayed for six years. Sofer called his prodigious student "a treasure chest full of holy books". When he was 20, Moses Shik married his cousin, Gittel Frankel.
He was appointed Rabbi of Yeregin in 1838, where he opened a yeshiva. In 1868 he became Rabbi of Chust, Ukraine, and moved his 800-student yeshiva there. He was active in arguing against the Haskalah movement and called for the establishment of a counter Orthodox movement. In 1868 his wish was fulfilled, with the establishment of separate Orthodox communities.
He died in Chust in 1879.
Maharam Shik authored responsa [3] on all four parts of the Shulchan Aruch and the 613 Mitzvot; these She'elot U'Tshuvot - MaHaram Shik contain over 1000 discussions, on all issues of life, and are published in 3 volumes [4].
Other works include [5]:
Biographical
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