Moshe Schick

For "Maharam Shiff" see Meir Shiff.

Moshe Schick (1 March 1807 – 25 January 1879; Hebrew: משה שיק) was a rabbi and a prominent leader of Orthodox Judaism in the Kingdom of Hungary.

In rabbinical commentary Shik is commonly known as the Maharam Schick (מהר"ם שיק); Maharam is the acronym for Moreinu Harav Moishe, which means "Our Teacher Rabbi Moshe" in Hebrew. The spelling of his surname varies, including Shick, Shik, and Shieck; the surname is itself an acronym for "Shem Yisrael Kadosh" ("Sanctified is the Name of Israel"), a surname chosen by Maharam Shik's grandfather, when the Jews of the Habsburg Monarchy were required to take on surnames [1]; see History of the Jews in Hungary: Under Joseph II (1780-1790).

Biography

Moshe Shik was born in Birkenhein, Kingdom of Hungary (contemporary Brezová pod Bradlom, 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, 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. They had several children. He was appointed Rabbi of Yeregin in 1838, where he opened a yeshiva. He taught students there for three decades. In 1861 he became Rabbi of Huszt, present-day Ukraine, and moved his 800-student yeshiva with him.

Schick was a leading figure in the Orthodox camp during its struggle with Neolog Judaism, which promoted moderate Reform and embraced the Magyarization policy of the government. On 28 December 1867, shortly after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, the Jews of Hungary were legally emancipated. Minister of Religion József Eötvös sought to establish a national Jewish organization which would represent the various communities before the government. The Orthodox, fearing the institution will be dominated by their rivals, held a rabbinical assembly in Pest between 24 November and 3 December 1868. While Schick had no official position – Samuel Benjamin Sofer was elected president – he emerged as leader. It was he who decided to send Eötvös a letter declaring that the Orthodox will not accept the resolutions of the upcoming National Jewish Congress – which was convened in Pest, between 10 December and 23 February 1869, to form the new organization – unless it would conform with their rabbis' opinions. Schick and Sigmund Kraus, a lay activist, led the Orthodox campaign to secede from the directory. On 15 November 1871, the new Minister of Religion Tivadar Pauler recognized the Central Bureau of the Autonomous Jewish Orthodox Communities in Hungary (Magyarországi Autonóm Orthodox Izraelita Hitfelekezet Köponti Irodája), which was separate and independent from the Neolog-oriented National Jewish Bureau (Az Izraeliták Országos Irodája).

Works

Maharam Shik authored responsa [2] 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 [3].

Other works include [4]:

• Chidushe ha-Maharam Shik - Novellae on the Talmud
• Derashot Maharam Shik - Sermons
• Sefer Maharam Shik al ha-Torah - Torah Commentary
• Maharam Shik al taryag mitsvot - on the 613 commandents

External links

• The Maharam Schick - 100th Yahrzeit, tzemachdovid.org
• Rabbi Moshe Shik - Maharam Shik (Hebrew), mytzadik.com
• She'elot U'Tshuvot - MaHaram Shik (Hebrew), hebrewbooks.org