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intellectually. Tis attitude was successully translated by
theMeiri into all o his halakhic decisions regarding all the
legalissues involving women.
In recent years many collections o extracts rom Meirisworks,
arranged according to subject, have been published,
including a commentary to the Passover Haggadah(1965; ed.by M.M.
Meshi-Zahav); Seer ha-Middot(idem (ed.), 1966), a
guide to proper conduct; and an anthology o his biblical
ex-positions (1957), by J.I. Gad. Meiri stands out as the
embodi-ment o the highest qualities which characterized
ProvenalJewry: greatness in Torah combined with a leaning
toward,
and an appreciation of, philosophy, secular erudition, and
the
sciences in general; unswerving attachment to custom and
tradition coupled with a high-minded tolerance of gentile
so-
ciety; and brilliant orah creativity, brought to expression
influent, even poetic Hebrew. Meiri was also the last
Provenalscholar to embody this synthesis.
: S.B. Soer, Or ha-Meir(1942); M.N. Zobel,
in: Eder ha-Yakar Mukdashim le-S.A. Horodezky(1947), 8896;
S.K.Mirsky, in: Talpioth, 4 (194950), 190; J. Katz, in: Zion, 18
(1953),
1530; I. Preis-Horev, in: , 14 (193738), 1620 no. 56; I.
a-Shema,ibid., 45 (1970); D. Hoffmann, Der Schulchan Arukh und die
Rabbinen
ueber das Verhaeltniss der Juden zu Andersglaeubigen(1894), 47;
J.Stein, in: , 82 (1938), 4656; J. Lvi, in: , 38 (1899), 10322;
S.
Deutschlaender, in: Festschrif J. Rosenheim (1931), Heb. pt.,
8286;
S.K. Mirsky, in: A. Soer and S.K. Mirsky (eds.),H ibbur
ha-Teshuvahle-R. Menah em b. Shelomo ha-Meiri(1950), 180. . -:Y.A.
Vida, in: Iyyun, 20, (1969), 24244; A.Y. Bromberg,
in: Shanah be-Shanah(1971), 20215; D. Ochs, in: Bi-Sedei H
emed,
15:12 (1972), 711; J. Katz, in: Zion, 46:2 (1981), 24346; B.Z.
Bendikat,
Merkaz ha-Torah be-Provence(1985), 18491; Y.H. Soer, in: Z
efunot,3:1 (1991), 6874; idem, in: ibid., 3:2 (1991), 7479; idem,
in: ibid., 4:1(1992), 8185; idem, in: ibid., 4:2 (1992), 6672; G.
Blidstein, in: Binah,
3 (1994), 11933; E. Krumbein, in: Netuim,63:1 (1993), 63118;
E.E. Ur-bach, in: Perakim be-Toledot ha-H evrah ha-Yehudit bi-Ymei
ha-Bein-
ayim u-ve-Et ha-H adashah(1998), 3444; M. Halbertal, Bein
Torahle-H okhmah: Rabbi Menah em ha-Meiri u-Baalei ha-Halakhah
ha-
Maimoniyyim be-Provence(2001); A. Grossman, in: Zion, 67:3
(2002),
25391; H. Kasher, in: Zion, 69:3 (2004), 35760; G. Oren, Ha-Yah
asla-Ishah be-Mishnat R. Menah em ha-Meiri (dissertation,
2005).
[Israel Moses a-Shma / David Derovan (2 ed.)]
MEIR JEHIEL HALEVI(Holzstock, Holzstick)OF OS
TROWIEC(18511928), h asidic rabbi and scholar. Meir Jehiel
was born to a poor amily o humble origin, but through
hisoutstanding gifs became one o the oremost leaders o Or-
thodox Jewry. He was a pupil of Elimelech of Grodzisk and
likehim settled in Ostrowiec, where many thousands o H asidimbecame
his disciples. Meir Jehiel was acknowledged as one othe greatest
scholars o his age, and or a time no importantdecision on
halakhahor Jewish life was made without consult-
ing him. His form of H asidism was original; his sermons
were
based on complicated equations rom *gematriaby which
heinterpreted many texts in halakhahand aggadah. He was oan ascetic
turn o mind and made a long series o asts over40 years. As he did
not permit his books to be printed in hislietime, only a raction o
his sayings and writings has been
preserved. His son (18871943), rabbi o Nasielsk,
was his successor. Some o his sayings are ound in Or
Torah,edited by his disciple Judah Joseph Leibush (1920), and in
M.Nombergs Omer Man(1912).
[Adin Steinsaltz]
MEIR SHEFEYAH (Heb. ), agricultural schooland youth village in
central Israel, on the southern slope oMt. Carmel near *Zikhron
Yaakov, ounded in 1892 by BaronEdmond de *Rothschild to provide
armsteads or the sons
o Zikhron Yaakov settlers. In 1904, afer the Kishinev po-
grom, Israel *Belkind established a home at Meir Sheeyah
or orphans o the pogrom. In World War , the Herzlia HighSchool
was transerred there rom el Aviv when the urkishauthorities ordered
the citys evacuation. In 1923 a youth vil-lage was set up, which
was included in the 1930s in the network
o *Youth Aliyah. Te population, including pupils, reachedabout
450 in 1969. In 2002 the population was 412. Te nameis composed of
the Hebraized form of the former Arabic name
o the place, and the name o Mayer Amschel *Rothschild.
[Eraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2 ed.)]
MEIR SIMH AH HAKOHEN OF DVINSK(18431926),
talmudic scholar. His brilliance was such that he is said tohave
annotated the halakhic work o a distinguished rabbi
when only 13 years old. At the age o 17 he went to
Eishishokwhere he studied under R. Moses Danishevsky. Meir Simh
ahmarried the daughter o Z evi Paltiel, a wealthy man rom
Bi-alystok who supported him while he continued his studies
under the local rabbi, Yom ov Lipman Halpern, the authoro Oneg
Yom Tov (1880). With the publication o his work,
Or Sameah on Maimonides (190226), Meir Simh
ah be-
came widely renowned as an outstanding talmudic scholar
and commentator. His novellae Or Sameah to Bava Kammaand Bava
Mez iawere published in Jerusalem (1948), and hisnovellae to most o
the tractates o the orders Nashimand
Nezikin, together with some responsa and occasional notes,were
printed in 1967 from a manuscript identified as his in the
Jewish National and University Library. In these undamen-tal and
classic works o rabbinic literature, he shed new lighton the almud
and codifiers, displaying vast erudition, greatdepth, and proound
logic. On the advice o R. Jacob H ari oZagare and R. Joseph B.
*Soloveichik of Brest-Litovsk, he was
invited to become rabbi of Dvinsk, a position he occupied
for
40 years. Meir Simh ah earned the high esteem o all commu-nal
circles, not only in Dvinsk, but ar beyond its borders. In1906 he
declined the offer of a rabbinical position in Jerusalem,
as a result o the entreaties o the community o Dvinsk whowrote
to the leaders in Jerusalem that were he to leave, notonly would
we, God orend, be destroyed, but also the entireDiaspora. For he is
the authority able to answer anyone whoenquires concerning the word
o the Lord. It is not or you,people o Jerusalem, to do such a
thing. In 1911 he presided
jointly with Isaac Jacob Rabinovitz, the rabbi of Ponevezh,
over
the Central Committee o Rabbis, the representative body o
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Russian Jewry in its relations with the government. DuringWorld
War most o the Dvinsk community fled, and only aew o the poorest
inhabitants remained. Meir Simh ah stayedwith them, declaring that
as long as there were nine Jews inthe city, he would be the
tenth.
In his work on the Pentateuch,Meshekh H okhmah(1927),
he drew reely on his vast knowledge o the two almuds ando the
halakhic and aggadic Midrashim, giving new and pro-ound
interpretations. Te book, which contains original re-flections,
attained wide popularity. Zera Avraham (1929) byAbraham Lufvir
consists o an exchange o correspondencebetween Lufvir and Menahem
*Zemba, and also includes
some fine specimens o Meir Simh ahs responsa to him.
: Yahadut Lita, 3 (1967), 65.; S.Y. Zevin, Ishim
ve-Shitot(1966), 15587.[Mordechai Hacohen]
MEISEL(Meisl, Meysl, Mika, Akhbar, Mauel, Konr),
MORDECAI
(Marcus
,Marx
)BEN SAMUEL
(15281601),Prague financier, philanthropist, and head o the
Jewish com-munity. He was considered by *Graetz the first Jewish
capi-talist in Germany. Although the source o his abulous
wealth
is not known, it enabled him to finance large transactions
insupport o *Rudolph , to whom he was appointed counselor,
during the urkish wars. His business was based on the
special
privilege granted him to loan money not only against pledges
but also against promissory notes and real estate. (Te
illegal-
ity o such practices according to Bohemian law was one othe
pretexts or confiscating Meisels estate, which amountedto over hal
a million florins, afer his death.) He also acted aspurveyor o
luxuries and art objects. Meisel is first mentioned
in business relations with his ather-in-law, Isaac Roe
(Lka),
in 1569. Another o his business associates was Veit (H
ayyim)
Vokat. He used his wealth or philanthropic activities o
all kinds; the epitaph on his tombstone records: None o
hiscontemporaries was truly his equal in deeds o charity. Withthe
support o his first wie, Eve, he built the Meisel Syna-
gogue in 1597, or which Rudolph granted him tax immunityand the
right to display in it the flag o David. Rudolph
urther decreed that the synagogue might not be entered
by officers o the law. It remained Meisels property until
hisdeath, when it was taken over by the community. (From 1963it
housed the synagogue silver collection o the Jewish
StateMuseum.)
Meisel purchased land or the expansion o the Jewishcemetery and
the construction o a bet tohorah(where the
dead were prepared or burial). He financed the building oa
hospital, a bet midrash, a mikveh, and a Klaus. Te tradi-
tion that he also built the Jewish town hall cannot be proved.He
had the streets o the Jewish quarter paved and donatedlarge sums to
all other charities, especially or the ransom-
ing o captives. He also sent money to Jerusalem and
grantedconsiderable loans to the Cracow and Poznan (Posen)
com-munities (possibly because o their connections with *JudahLoew
b. Bezalel).
About Meisels second wie, Frumet (d. 1625), there is
diverse inormation. On one hand, she is said to have sup-
ported him in his philanthropic activities, and on the
otherhand, she is reported to have reused Meisels dying requestto
give to Judah Loew a large sum or his charities. Tat shewas Meisels
wie is not mentioned on her gravestone. WhenMeisel died, childless,
he willed his property to his two neph-
ews, both named Samuel. Although the emperor was repre-sented at
Meisels uneral, all Meisels property was seized inthe name o the
emperor, his heirs tortured to make them dis-
close any concealed assets, and Meisels will itsel declaredvoid.
A lawsuit was initiated, to which the entire communitybecame a
party, claiming the right to part o the inheritancebecause it had
been orced to pay interest on it. In the course o
this lawsuit, the h eremwas pronounced on the impoverishedMeisel
amily and one o them was reused burial. Althoughthe main part o the
estate burned down in the conflagrationo 1689, an agreement between
the community and the am-
ily was not reached until 1699.:J.R. Marcus, Te Jew in the
Medieval World
(1965), 3236; O. Muneles (ed.), Te Prague Ghetto in the
Renais-
sance Period(1965), index; Bondy-Dworsk, nos. 859, 9679, 9713;H.
Volavkov (ed.), Guide to the Jewish Museum in Prague, 2 pts.
(194857), index; idem, A Story of the Jewish Museum in
Prague
(1968), 25966; H. Schnee, Die Hoffinanz und der moderne Staat,
5(1966), 21922; B. Kisch, in: , 3 (1941), 8688; 4 (1942), 7173;
G.Wol, in: , 2 (1888), 17281.
[Meir Lamed]
MEISEL, MOSES BEN MORDECAI(c. 1758c. 1838), orah
scholar and maskil; born in Vilna. In his youth Meisel was
one o the disciples closest to the Vilna Gaon *Elijah b.
Sol-
omon Zalman. He was amiliar with German literature andbecame
deeply interested in the writings o Moses *Mendels-sohn. However,
he was also in secret contact with R. *ShneurZalman o Lyady, the
ounder o the *Chabad movement, and
when this became known, he fled to Germany, earing perse-cution
by the Vilna religious establishment. During the Na-poleonic Wars
he conerred with the representatives o the
French government on several occasions. Afer acceding to R.
Shneur Zalmans request to stop these talks with people closeto
Napoleon, he was suspected o collaborating with the Rus-sian army
and was compelled to flee. He went to Erez Israelbut returned to
Lithuania afer the French deeat. During theearly 1820s he went once
more to Erez Israel and in his last
years was closely associated with Sir Moses *Montefiore. Hewrote
Shirat Moshe(Shklov, 1788), on the 613 precepts. Meisel
died in Hebron.
:S. Fuenn, Kiryah Neemanah(1860), 2467;M. eitelbaum, Ha-Rav
mi-Ladi(191013), 31, 1568.
[Arthur Cygielman]
MEISEL, NOAH(18911956), Latvian politician, born in Nes-
vizh, Belarus. From his student days Meisel was a member othe
*Bund. In World War he served in the Russian army asa medical
officer. Afer Latvia became independent (1918), he
,
