הרב מאיר שמחה הכהן

Rav Meir Simcha HaKohen of Dvinsk (5603/1843–4 Elul 5686/1926) was among the greatest luminaries of Eastern Europe in the generation before the churban, known to the learning world by his two seforim: the Ohr Somayach on the Rambam and the Meshech Chochmah on Chumash. Born in Butrimonys in Lita to Rav Shimshon Kalonymus, he married at seventeen and settled in Bialystok, where his wife’s business supported his learning; he sat there over Torah for many years, drawn close to the city’s rav, Rav Yom Tov Lipman Halpern, who learned with him b’chavruta.

After declining rabbanut after rabbanut, he finally accepted the call of the misnagdic kehillah of Dvinsk in 5648/1888, and served there thirty-nine years until his last day. His counterpart across the city was the chassidic rav of Dvinsk, Rav Yosef Rosen — the Rogatchover Gaon — and the two giants held each other in great regard, sharing above all their love of the Rambam. In the First World War, when the city emptied and he was urged to flee, he answered: as long as nine Jews remain in the city, I will be the tenth for the minyan. He wrote warmly of the building of Eretz Yisrael while keeping his distance from the political movement, and was beloved for the warmth with which he received every young talmid chacham.

His Ohr Somayach stands among the classic works on the Mishneh Torah, and his Meshech Chochmah, printed from his manuscripts in the year after his passing, opened a new derech in learning Chumash — halachah, lomdut and machshavah woven into the pesukim — and remains one of the most learned Torah commentaries of the last century; The Meshech Chochmah is often quoted in rabinnical sermons on Shabbat. His chiddushim on Bavli and Yerushalmi and his teshuvot were printed in later generations. He was niftar on leil Shabbat, 4 Elul 5686, months after his rebbetzin; the baal-teshuvah yeshivot that carry the name Ohr Somayach around the world today are named in his memory.