הרב מאיר לייבוש וייזר

Rav Meir Leibush ben Yechiel Michel Weiser (19 Adar 5569/1809–1 Tishrei 5640/1879), known for all generations as the Malbim — the acronym of his name, which he set as his signature on all his printed sefarim; English sources write Meir Leibush Wisser — was among the great mefarshei Mikra and poskim of the later Acharonim. Born in Volochysk in Volhynia, he learned Chumash and Gemara with his father, and after being orphaned as a child was raised by his stepfather, Rav Leib of Volochysk, learning also under Rav Moshe HaLevi Horowitz. At bar mitzvah age he was sent to Warsaw, where he became known as the illui of Volhynia, and in Galicia he learned the hidden Torah with Rav Tzvi Hirsh Eichenstein, the Rebbe of Zhidachov. A marriage made at fourteen ended in divorce; at about twenty-seven he married the daughter of the wealthy Feivel Opoczynski, who supported him so that he could give himself over to learning and writing.

At twenty-five he completed Artzot HaChaim on Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim, having traveled in 5594/1834 to Pressburg, Breslau and Amsterdam for the haskamot of their rabbanim; it was printed in Breslau in 5597/1837. In 5599/1839 he became rav of Wreschen in Prussia, and seven years later of Kempen — whence his other name, der Kempener Maggid. In 5619/1859 he was called as chief rabbi and darshan of Bucharest. There he guarded the mesorah with a strong hand — derashot that drew multitudes to the great shul, new standards in kashrut with the shochtim showing him their knives each morning, new eruvin in the Jewish quarters — and stood against the maskilim of the city, led by Dr. Iuliu Barasch, opposing the new schools and the Choral Temple built for choir and organ. His opponents’ denunciations brought him to the edge of prison; he was freed through the intervention of Sir Moses Montefiore on condition that he leave the country, and on erev Shabbat Zachor 5624 (March 18, 1864) he was arrested and carried across the Danube out of Romania.

His complaint before the authorities in Constantinople brought nothing, and after half a year in Paris he took up, in Nisan 5625/1865, the rabbanut of Lunshitz in Russian Poland, in place of his father-in-law Rav Chaim Auerbach, who had passed away. From there he moved to Kherson, and in 5630/1870 to Mogilev on the Dnieper, from which the governor expelled him after new denunciations; he then served as rav of the Polish kehillah of Königsberg. He declined the call to stand at the head of the Orthodox kehillot of New York, and the governor of Vilna blocked his appointment to that city’s rabbanut.

The Malbim’s name rests on his commentary to Tanach, begun with Megillat Esther in 5605/1845 and spread over nearly all of Tanach, though not Kohelet or Eicha. Its foundation: there are no true synonyms and no repetition in the Torah; no word comes merely for beauty of expression, and every seeming doubling carries a distinct idea. After the Reform assembly at Braunschweig in 5604/1844 he set himself to compose HaTorah VehaMitzvah, the commentary on the Chumash together with the midrashei halachah — Sifra, Mechilta and Sifrei — prefaced by Ayelet HaShachar, in which he draws up 613 rules of the language of Torah, 248 in the syntax of the sentence and 365 in the meanings of words, showing how the derashot of Chazal flow from the depth of the pasuk itself. His Mikraei Kodesh covers Nevi’im and Ketuvim; beside them stand Yair Or on synonyms, Shirei HaNefesh on Shir HaShirim, and Mashal uMelitzah. He fell ill on his way to Kremenchug, whose kehillah had called him as rav, and was niftar on the first day of Rosh Hashanah 5640 (September 18, 1879) in Kiev.

The Malbim’s commentary was written mainly to combat the Reform movement and the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) of the day. His “modern” terminology and philosophy were used to achieve these goals.