meir jehiel ha-levi of ostrowiec intellectually.

This attitude was successfully translated by the Meiri into all of his halakhic decisions regarding all the legal issues involving women. In recent years many collections of extracts from Meiris works, arranged according to subject, have been published, including a commentary to the Passover Haggadah (1965; ed. by M.M. Meshi-Zahav); Sefer ha-Middot (idem (ed.), 1966), a guide to proper conduct; and an anthology of his biblical expositions (1957), by J.I. Gad. Meiri stands out as the embodiment of the highest qualities which characterized Provenal Jewry: 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 society; and brilliant Torah creativity, brought to expression in fluent, even poetic Hebrew. Meiri was also the last Provenal scholar to embody this synthesis.
Bibliography: S.B. Sofer, 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: KS, 14 (193738), 1620 no. 56; I. Ta-Shema, ibid., 45 (1970); D. Hoffmann, Der Schulchan Arukh und die Rabbinen ueber das Verhaeltniss der Juden zu Andersglaeubigen (18942), 47; J. Stein, in: MGWJ, 82 (1938), 4656; J. Lvi, in: REJ, 38 (1899), 10322; S. Deutschlaender, in: Festschrift J. Rosenheim (1931), Heb. pt., 8286; S.K. Mirsky, in: A. Sofer and S.K. Mirsky (eds.), H ibbur ha-Teshuvah le-R. Menah em b. Shelomo ha-Meiri (1950), 180. Add. Bibliography: 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. Sofer, 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. Urbach, in: Perakim be-Toledot ha-H evrah ha-Yehudit bi-Ymei ha-Beinayim u-ve-Et ha-H adashah (1998), 3444; M. Halbertal, Bein Torah le-H okhmah: Rabbi Menah em ha-Meiri u-Baalei ha-Halakhah haMaimoniyyim be-Provence (2001); A. Grossman, in: Zion, 67:3 (2002), 25391; H. Kasher, in: Zion, 69:3 (2004), 35760; G. Oren, Ha-Yah as la-Ishah be-Mishnat R. Menah em ha-Meiri (dissertation, 2005). [Israel Moses Ta-Shma / David Derovan (2nd ed.)]

preserved. His son EZEKIEL (18871943), rabbi of Nasielsk, was his successor. Some of his sayings are found in Or Torah, edited by his disciple Judah Joseph Leibush (1920), and in M. Nombergs Omer Man (1912).

[Adin Steinsaltz]

MEIR SHEFEYAH (Heb. ), agricultural school and youth village in central Israel, on the southern slope of Mt. Carmel near *Zikhron Yaakov, founded in 1892 by Baron Edmond de *Rothschild to provide farmsteads for the sons of Zikhron Yaakov settlers. In 1904, after the Kishinev pogrom, Israel *Belkind established a home at Meir Shefeyah for orphans of the pogrom. In World War I, the Herzlia High School was transferred there from Tel Aviv when the Turkish authorities ordered the citys evacuation. In 1923 a youth village was set up, which was included in the 1930s in the network of *Youth Aliyah. The population, including pupils, reached about 450 in 1969. In 2002 the population was 412. The name is composed of the Hebraized form of the former Arabic name of the place, and the name of Mayer Amschel *Rothschild.
[Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2nd ed.)]

MEIR JEHIEL HALEVI (Holzstock, Holzstick) OF OS TROWIEC (18511928), h asidic rabbi and scholar. Meir Jehiel was born to a poor family of humble origin, but through his outstanding gifts became one of the foremost leaders of Orthodox Jewry. He was a pupil of Elimelech of Grodzisk and like him settled in Ostrowiec, where many thousands of H asidim became his disciples. Meir Jehiel was acknowledged as one of the greatest scholars of his age, and for a time no important decision on halakhah or Jewish life was made without consulting him. His form of H asidism was original; his sermons were based on complicated equations from *gematria by which he interpreted many texts in halakhah and aggadah. He was of an ascetic turn of mind and made a long series of fasts over 40 years. As he did not permit his books to be printed in his lifetime, only a fraction of his sayings and writings has been

MEIR SIMH AH HAKOHEN OF DVINSK (18431926), talmudic scholar. His brilliance was such that he is said to have annotated the halakhic work of a distinguished rabbi when only 13 years old. At the age of 17 he went to Eishishok where he studied under R. Moses Danishevsky. Meir Simh ah married the daughter of Z evi Paltiel, a wealthy man from Bialystok who supported him while he continued his studies under the local rabbi, Yom Tov Lipman Halpern, the author of Oneg Yom Tov (1880). With the publication of his work, Or Sameah on Maimonides (190226), Meir Simh ah became widely renowned as an outstanding talmudic scholar and commentator. His novellae Or Sameah to Bava Kamma and Bava Mez ia were published in Jerusalem (1948), and his novellae to most of the tractates of the orders Nashim and 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 fundamental and classic works of rabbinic literature, he shed new light on the Talmud and codifiers, displaying vast erudition, great depth, and profound logic. On the advice of R. Jacob H arif of Zagare 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 of all communal circles, not only in Dvinsk, but far beyond its borders. In 1906 he declined the offer of a rabbinical position in Jerusalem, as a result of the entreaties of the community of Dvinsk who wrote to the leaders in Jerusalem that were he to leave, not only would we, God forfend, be destroyed, but also the entire Diaspora. For he is the authority able to answer anyone who enquires concerning the word of the Lord. It is not for you, people of Jerusalem, to do such a thing. In 1911 he presided jointly with Isaac Jacob Rabinovitz, the rabbi of Ponevezh, over the Central Committee of Rabbis, the representative body of ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA , Second Edition, Volume 13

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meisel, noah Russian Jewry in its relations with the government. During World War i most of the Dvinsk community fled, and only a few of the poorest inhabitants remained. Meir Simh ah stayed with them, declaring that as long as there were nine Jews in the city, he would be the tenth. In his work on the Pentateuch, Meshekh H okhmah (1927), he drew freely on his vast knowledge of the two Talmuds and of the halakhic and aggadic Midrashim, giving new and profound interpretations. The book, which contains original reflections, attained wide popularity. Zera Avraham (1929) by Abraham Luftvir consists of an exchange of correspondence between Luftvir and Menahem *Zemba, and also includes some fine specimens of Meir Simh ahs responsa to him.
Bibliography: Yahadut Lita, 3 (1967), 65f.; S.Y. Zevin, Ishim ve-Shitot (19663), 15587. [Mordechai Hacohen]

MEISEL (Meisl, Meysl, Mika, Akhbar, Mauel, Konr), MORDECAI (Marcus, Marx) BEN SAMUEL (15281601), Prague financier, philanthropist, and head of the Jewish community. He was considered by *Graetz the first Jewish capitalist in Germany. Although the source of his fabulous wealth is not known, it enabled him to finance large transactions in support of *Rudolph II, to whom he was appointed counselor, during the Turkish 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. (The illegality of such practices according to Bohemian law was one of the pretexts for confiscating Meisels estate, which amounted to over half a million florins, after his death.) He also acted as purveyor of luxuries and art objects. Meisel is first mentioned in business relations with his father-in-law, Isaac Rofe (Lka), in 1569. Another of his business associates was Veit (H ayyim) Vokat. He used his wealth for philanthropic activities of all kinds; the epitaph on his tombstone records: None of his contemporaries was truly his equal in deeds of charity. With the support of his first wife, Eve, he built the Meisel Synagogue in 1597, for which Rudolph II granted him tax immunity and the right to display in it the flag of David. Rudolph further decreed that the synagogue might not be entered by officers of the law. It remained Meisels property until his death, when it was taken over by the community. (From 1963 it housed the synagogue silver collection of the Jewish State Museum.) Meisel purchased land for the expansion of the Jewish cemetery and the construction of a bet tohorah (where the dead were prepared for burial). He financed the building of a hospital, a bet midrash, a mikveh, and a Klaus. The tradition that he also built the Jewish town hall cannot be proved. He had the streets of the Jewish quarter paved and donated large sums to all other charities, especially for the ransoming of captives. He also sent money to Jerusalem and granted considerable loans to the Cracow and Poznan (Posen) communities (possibly because of their connections with *Judah Loew b. Bezalel). ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA , Second Edition, Volume 13

About Meisels second wife, Frumet (d. 1625), there is diverse information. On one hand, she is said to have supported him in his philanthropic activities, and on the other hand, she is reported to have refused Meisels dying request to give to Judah Loew a large sum for his charities. That she was Meisels wife is not mentioned on her gravestone. When Meisel died, childless, he willed his property to his two nephews, both named Samuel. Although the emperor was represented at Meisels funeral, all Meisels property was seized in the name of the emperor, his heirs tortured to make them disclose any concealed assets, and Meisels will itself declared void. A lawsuit was initiated, to which the entire community became a party, claiming the right to part of the inheritance because it had been forced to pay interest on it. In the course of this lawsuit, the h erem was pronounced on the impoverished Meisel family and one of them was refused burial. Although the main part of the estate burned down in the conflagration of 1689, an agreement between the community and the family was not reached until 1699.
Bibliography: J.R. Marcus, The Jew in the Medieval World (1965), 3236; O. Muneles (ed.), The Prague Ghetto in the Renaissance 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: HJ, 3 (1941), 8688; 4 (1942), 7173; G. Wolf, in: ZGJD, 2 (1888), 17281. [Meir Lamed]

MEISEL, MOSES BEN MORDECAI (c. 1758c. 1838), Torah scholar and maskil; born in Vilna. In his youth Meisel was one of the disciples closest to the Vilna Gaon *Elijah b. Solomon Zalman. He was familiar with German literature and became deeply interested in the writings of Moses *Mendelssohn. However, he was also in secret contact with R. *Shneur Zalman of Lyady, the founder of the *Chabad movement, and when this became known, he fled to Germany, fearing persecution by the Vilna religious establishment. During the Napoleonic Wars he conferred with the representatives of the French government on several occasions. After acceding to R. Shneur Zalmans request to stop these talks with people close to Napoleon, he was suspected of collaborating with the Russian army and was compelled to flee. He went to Erez Israel but returned to Lithuania after the French defeat. During the early 1820s he went once more to Erez Israel and in his last years was closely associated with Sir Moses *Montefiore. He wrote Shirat Moshe (Shklov, 1788), on the 613 precepts. Meisel died in Hebron.
Bibliography: S. Fuenn, Kiryah Neemanah (1860), 2467; M. Teitelbaum, Ha-Rav mi-Ladi (191013), 31, 1568. [Arthur Cygielman]

MEISEL, NOAH (18911956), Latvian politician, born in Nesvizh, Belarus. From his student days Meisel was a member of the *Bund. In World War I he served in the Russian army as a medical officer. After Latvia became independent (1918), he

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