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{{Short description|Lithuanian-Russian rabbi and writer}}
{{Infobox writer
| name=Solomon Zalkind Minor
| image=Solomon Zalkind Minor.png
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| pseudonym=Remez{{r|EJ}}
| birth_name=
| birth_date=1826 or 1827
| birth_place=[[Vilnius|Vilna]], [[Vilna Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date={{death date|1900|01|21|1827}}
| death_place=Vilna, Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire
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| alma_mater=[[Vilna Rabbinical School and Teachers' Seminary|Vilna Rabbinical School]]
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| children={{unbulleted list|[[Osip Minor]]|[[Lazar Solomonovich Minor|Lazar Minor]]}}
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}}
'''Solomon Zalkind Minor''' ({{Langx|he|שלמה זלקינד מינאר}}; 1826 or 1827 – January 21, 1900) was a [[Lithuanian Jews|Lithuanian]]-[[Russian Empire|Russian]] rabbi and writer.

==Biography==
Minor was born in [[Vilnius|Vilna]] in 1827. He received his elementary education from his father, Jekuthiel, a well-known [[Talmud]]ist.{{r|Eisenstadt}} At the age of twelve Minor took up the study of Biblical and rabbinical subjects, but without the aid of a teacher. In 1849 the [[Vilna Rabbinical School and Teachers' Seminary|Vilna Rabbinical School]] was established, and Minor was one of its first two graduates.{{r|EJ}}

In 1854, he became instructor in Talmud and rabbinical literature in that institution, and, in 1856, was appointed special adviser on Jewish affairs in the office of the governor-general of [[Vilna Governorate|Vilna]]. In 1859 Minor was appointed rabbi at [[Minsk]].{{r|Pozner}} Owing to his efforts a [[Hebrew school]] and a night school for artisans were opened (1861), and a library for the Jewish community was established (1862).{{r|JE}}

In 1869, Minor was called to [[Moscow]], where a Jewish congregation had recently been formed. There he succeeded in obtaining from the government the right to establish an independent Jewish religious organization, a right which the community of Moscow had, till then, never enjoyed. At the same time he received permission to build a synagogue and other communal institutions, such as a Hebrew free school, an industrial school, and an [[Orphanage|orphan asylum]]. He also taught the Jewish religion at the high school for girls. In 1891, when the expulsion of Moscow Jews began, Minor was banished by governor-general [[Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia|Sergei Alexandrovich]] to his native town, Vilna, where he remained in seclusion until his death.{{r|JE}}

Minor wrote articles for the Russian supplement to ''[[Ha-Karmel]]'', and for ''Yevreiskaya Biblioteka'', and was a regular contributor to other Hebrew and Russian periodicals (mostly under the pen name "Remez").{{r|EJ}} He was a friend of Count [[Leo Tolstoy]], whose studies in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and in the [[Old Testament]] he directed. Minor also corresponded with many of the prominent [[Haskalah|Maskilim]] of his time.{{r|JE}}

==Sermons==
In his younger days Minor delivered his sermons in [[German language|German]]. Among the sermons he delivered during his time in the Vilna seminary was ''Der Rabbiner und der Lehrer'' (Vilna, 1858). It pictures the ideal rabbi as a devoted guardian of the spiritual interests of his flock and as the advocate of his people.{{r|JE}}

At Minsk and Moscow he began delivering sermons in [[Russian language|Russian]]—the first rabbi to do so—and frequently had many Christians among his hearers. His sermons served as models for synagogal discourses in Russia, and were published in Moscow in three volumes between 1875 and 1889. They consisted largely of elucidations of the principles of Judaism, explanations of historical events concerning the Jews, and homilies on the duties of the Jews as Russian citizens.{{r|JE}}

==Publications==
* {{cite book|title=Der Rabbiner und der Lehrer, was sie ihrem Volke sein sollen|location=Vilna|date=1858|publisher=Joseph Zawadzky|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LvEIW1uouG4C}}
* {{cite book|title=Rabbi Ippolit Lutostanski|location=Moscow|date=1879}} Directed against [[Hippolytus Lutostansky|Lutostanski]]'s anti-Semitic book ''The Jews and the Talmud''.
* An outline of the history of the Jewish people, after the German of M. Elkan (Moscow, 1880; 2d ed., 1881)
* {{cite book|title=Poslye Pogromov|location=Moscow|date=1882}} On the anti-Jewish riots in Russia.
* {{cite book|title=Biblia Ob Utotrebleniye Vina|location=Moscow|date=1882}} On the teaching of the Bible in regard to alcoholic beverages.

==References==
{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=Minor, Solomon Zalkind|url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10859-minor-solomon-zalkind|first1=Herman|last1=Rosenthal|first2=J. G.|last2=Lipman|volume=8|page=600}} 
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=JE>{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=Minor, Solomon Zalkind|url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10859-minor-solomon-zalkind|first1=Herman|last1=Rosenthal|first2=J. G.|last2=Lipman|volume=8|page=600|no-prescript=1}}</ref>
<ref name=EJ>{{cite EJ|title=Minor, Solomon Zalman (Zalkind)|first=Yehuda|last=Slutsky|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/minor-solomon-zalman}}</ref>
<ref name=Eisenstadt>{{cite book|title=Dor rabanav ve-sofrav|volume=3|first=Benzion|last=Eisenstadt|location=Vilna|publisher=Avraham Tzvi Katzinelinboyge|date=1901|language=he|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dUkLAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA26}}</ref>
<ref name=Pozner>{{cite journal|title=Toledot ha-Rav Shlomo Zalkind Minor z"l|journal=Sefer Ha-shanah|first=Eliyahu|last=Pozner|volume=2|editor-first=N.|editor-last=Sokolow|editor-link=Nahum Sokolow|publisher=N. Sokolow|location=Warsaw|language=he|date=1901|pages=288–292|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_pQWAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA287}}</ref>
}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Minor, Solomon Zalkind}}
[[Category:1827 births]]
[[Category:1900 deaths]]
[[Category:Jewish writers from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:19th-century male writers from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:People from Vilna Governorate]]
[[Category:People of the Haskalah]]
[[Category:19th-century rabbis from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Writers from Vilnius]]
[[Category:19th-century writers from the Russian Empire]]