Samuel Loew
Samuel ben Nathan Ha-Levi Loew (Kelin or Kolin) (also "Lōw" or "Löw", Hebrew: שמואל בן נתן נטע הלוי קעלין; c. 1720–1806) was a Talmudist and Halakhist, best known for his work Machazit HaShekel.
Biography
The son of Nathan Naṭe ha-Levi, he was born at Kolín, Bohemia. For nearly 60 years he presided over a yeshiva at Boskovice, Moravia, where he died on May 20, 1806. He had the title Av Beis Din of Boskowitz.[1]
Samuel had 3 sons and 3 daughters: Benjamin Ze'ev Ha-Levi (Wolf) Boskowitz (1746-1818), Jacob (c 1750-1833), Jehuda (c 1751-1800), Sara (Hinda) married Markus (Mordechai Lob) Wassertrilling of Boskovice, Esther married Bernhard Biach
His works were published under the name Machatsis haShekel as follows:
- An extensive subcommentary on Abraham Abele Gombiner’s Magen Abraham on Shulhan Aruk, Oraḥ Ḥayyim (Vienna, 1807-1808; 2d ed. 1817; several times reprinted)
- A subcommentary on the Shakh on Shulchan Arukh, Yore De’a Hilkhot Niddah (Lemberg, 1858) and Hilkot Meliḥah (ib. 1860)
These commentaries appear nowadays in most editions of the Shulchan Arukh.
His son Wolf Boskowitz delivered the sermon at his funeral.[2] His descendant in the 5th generation, Dr. Max Anton Löw, a convert to Roman Catholicism, was the attorney of the anti-Semite Francis Deckert.[3]
References
- By line to Machatzit haShekel on Yoreh De’ah
- Ma’amar Esther, Ofen, 1837
- Mittheilungen der Gesell. zur Abwehr des Antisemitismus, 1896, pp. 45, 48; 1897, pp. 190, 216; Oest. Wochenschrift, 1896, p. 65
- Aaron Walden, Shem ha-Gedolim he-Ḥadash, ii.44, Warsaw, 1880
- Isaac Benjacob, Oẓar ha-Sefarim, p. 321
- Julius Fürst, Bibl. Jud. s.v. Kollin, Samuel
- Joseph Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 417