View source for Malbim

{{Short description|Orthodox rabbi}}
{{use American English|date=August 2022}}
{{use MDY dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox Jewish leader
|honorific-prefix = Rabbi
|name        = Meïr Leibush ben Yehiel Michel Wisser
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|title       = Malbim 
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Malbim 1.jpg
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|birth_date  = March 7, 1809
|birth_place = [[Volochysk]], [[Volhynia]], [[Russian Empire]]
|death_date  = September 18, 1879
|death_place = [[Kyiv]], [[Russian Empire]]
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|caption     = Rabbi Meir Leibush ben Yehiel Michal, "the Malbim"
}}
'''Meir Leibush ben Yehiel Michel Wisser''' (March 7, 1809 – September 18, 1879), better known as '''the Malbim''' ({{langx|he|מלבי"ם}}), was a [[rabbi]], master of [[Hebrew grammar]], and [[meforshim|Bible commentator]]. The name ''Malbim'' was derived from the [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] initials of his name. He used this acronym as his surname in all his published works and became known by it in common usage. His writings do not include works about [[Kohelet]] or [[Eicha]].<ref name=IyovBook>{{cite book
  |title=The Malbim on Iyov  |date=July 2012 |editor1=Herbert Weisberg |editor2=Yosef Y. Kazarnosky
  |isbn=978-965-7552-03-2  |page=xxiii |publisher=Israel Bookshop Publications }}</ref><ref name=EtzLec/>

==Biography==
[[File:Brockhaus and Efron Jewish Encyclopedia e10 569-0.jpg|thumb]]
Malbim was born in [[Volochysk]], [[Volhynia]], to Yehiel Michel Wisser. His father educated him in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and the [[Talmud]]. After being orphaned as a child, Meïr was cared for and educated by his stepfather, Rabbi Leib of Volochysk.

At the age of 13, he went to study in [[Warsaw]] where he became known as "the [[Illui]] from Volhynia." At age fourteen, he married but shortly thereafter divorced.<ref name=EtzLec>{{citation |url=https://torah.etzion.org.il/en/lecture-27-malbim
|title=Lecture#27: Malbim |author=Dr, Avigail Rock |access-date=August 7, 2022}}</ref> The Malbim showed talent from his early childhood, and his works indicate that he had considerable knowledge of secular sciences and history. From 1838 to 1845, he served as rabbi of [[Września|Wreschen]]. In the latter year, he was called to the rabbinate of [[Kępno|Kempen]], where he remained until 1859. He was thereafter also known as ''der Kempener Magid''.

His first major work, published at age 25, was ''Artzas HaChaim—''a commentary on ''[[Orach Chayim|Orach Chaim]]''.<ref name=IyovBook/>

In 1859, Malbim became [[chief rabbi]] of [[Bucharest]], [[Romania]]. He had disagreements with the upper class and educated Jews there; some of them Austrian citizens (called in Romanian ''sudiţi'') led by the noted Dr. [[Iuliu Barasch]]. They wanted to introduce changes in the spirit of modern European life into the life of the local Jewry as was done in some [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] congregations. Malbim defended the traditional style of [[Orthodox Judaism]], which demanded strict adherence to [[Halakha|Jewish law and tradition]]. He rejected almost all suggestions to edit the [[Siddur]], give up beards or other distinctions of exterior appearance, or make other changes in observance.

Malbim opposed the construction of the [[Templul Coral|Choral Temple]] which would be equipped with a choir and organ similar to the [[Leopoldstädter Tempel|Great Synagogue of Leopoldstadt]] in [[Vienna]]. He thought this was too [[Christianity|Christian]] in style. In 1864, the Choral Temple became the main neo-orthodox synagogue in Romania. He also condemned the founding (before he arrived) of the first two elementary schools in Bucharest for Jewish children to offer a general knowledge curriculum. In this period, Romanian officials encouraged such efforts to [[Jewish assimilation|integrate]] the Jews into mainstream Romanian life.

Malbim's insistence on adhering to the [[halakha]], such as daily inspection of butcher's knives,<ref name=EtzLec/> resulted in portions of the religious personnel (e.g., [[Shochet|shochtim]] and [[Dayan (rabbinic judge)|dayan]]im) becoming hostile toward him. Through their frequent complaints, his opponents almost succeeded in having him sent to prison.<ref>{{citation
  |website=OU.org [[Orthodox Union]]
  |url=http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/rabbis/leibush.htm
  |title=Great Leaders of our People: Rabbi Meir Leibush, Malbim (1809-1879)
  |quote=leading even to a brief imprisonment on a false accusation.
  |access-date=August 7, 2022
  |archive-date=January 13, 2013
  |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130113055329/http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/rabbis/leibush.htm
  |url-status=bot: unknown
  }}</ref> Malbim was freed through the intervention of Sir [[Moses Montefiore]] upon the condition that he leave Romania.
[[File:Malbim.jpg|thumb|The Malbim]]

Malbim went to [[Constantinople]] and complained to the [[Turkey|Turkish government]] but obtained no satisfaction. After staying six months in Paris, he went to [[Łęczyca|Lunshitz]], in [[Congress Poland|Russian Poland]], as successor to his deceased father-in-law, Hayyim Auerbach (1866). Shortly afterward, he became rabbi at [[Kherson]] and thence was called to the rabbinate of [[Mogilev]] on the [[Dnieper River|Dnieper]] (1870). There, too, he was a staunch supporter of Judaism and was resented by the richer Jews; they denounced him as a political criminal, and the governor of Moghilev forced him to leave the town.

Malbim went to [[Königsberg]] as chief rabbi of the Polish community, but his conflicts with [[Reform Jews]] continued. Malbim visited [[Vilna]] in 1879, where the community would have appointed him as rabbi, but the governor of [[Vilna]] opposed the election. He did not want to sanction the appointment of a rabbi who had been expelled from Moghilev as a political criminal. Malbim also declined an offer to be chief rabbi of the Orthodox in New York City.<ref>[http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/vayikra/geller.html The Malbim: Leadership and Challenge as Reflected in his Introduction to Vayikra and His Torah Commentary "Hatorah Vehamitzvah"], Study Sheet on the Weekly Torah Portion (No. 124. Parashat Vayikra 5756, 1996), from the Office of the Campus Rabbi of [[Bar-Ilan University]]</ref> In September 1879, Malbim was traveling to [[Kremenchuk]], where he had been called as rabbi, when he fell sick. He died on [[Rosh Hashanah|Rosh HaShanah]] 5640 in [[Kyiv]].

== Methodology and style ==
{{See also|Oral Torah #In rabbinic literature and commentary}}
Malbim's fame and popularity rest upon his novel commentary on the Bible. His first published commentary was on [[Book of Esther|Megillat Esther]] (1845), followed by his commentary on most of the Hebrew [[Tanakh]] from then until 1876.  His commentary on the Bible is based most notably upon his principle that there are no true synonyms in the Tanakh; apparent stylistic repetitions are not that, but rather each introduces a distinct idea. His approach is described as follows:

:"Advancing a project initiated in [[Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg|Ya‘akov Mecklenberg’s]] Pentateuch commentary, Malbim formulates 613 grammatical principles to justify rabbinic halakhic exegesis in ''[[Sifra]]'' and elsewhere. To demonstrate the sanctity of scripture, Malbim devised a unique [[hermeneutic]] that he ambitiously applied to the entire Bible, resulting in one of the monumental Jewish scholarly achievements of the era: a wide-ranging, comprehensive commentary .... that infuses traditional Hebrew linguistic, philosophical, and mystical learning with contemporary concepts from science, psychology, epistemology, logic, and metaphysics."<ref>[http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Meir_Leib_ben_Yehiel_Mikhael Me’ir Leib ben Yeḥi’el Mikha’el] by Prof. Mordechai Cohen of [[Yeshiva University]]</ref>
According to his method, there is no repetition or duplication in the verses, and no expression comes to the "glory of reading" (as claimed, for example, by Ibn Ezra).

Its interpretation of the Torah consists of two parts intertwined with each other: In the parts on which there are [[Midrash halakha|halachic midrash]], the commentary is actually on the halachic midrash. He discusses them in comparison to simplifying the verses while being precise in biblical grammar. The first midrash on which the commentary was written is the [[Sifra|Sifrah]], and as a background for his commentary he wrote a treatise called "Ayelet HaShahar" in which he formulates 613 (Taryag) rules from which all the halachic laws are derived: 248 (Ramah) rules deal with the syntax of the law and 365 rules deal with semantic grammars and the differences between words. At the end of each rule there is a reference to which laws in the book express it, and indeed all the laws of the book are mapped to rules. Also in his commentaries on the [[Mekhilta|Mechilta]] and the [[Sifre]] written after that, there are references to the rules in the Ayelet Hashahar from which they were derived, and in his introduction to "Ayelet Hashahar" he invites the Torah sages to analyze all of the halachic midrash in the Talmud in this way. 

In the parts that do not have halachic midrash, he interprets the story according to the depth of the simplicity, when at the beginning of each story he presents questions to which he answers, similar to the interpretation of Rabbi [[Isaac Abarbanel|Izaac Abarbanel]]. Even in these commentaries of his, especially on the Book of Genesis, there is a lot of halachic innovation, compared to other commentaries in which the main halachic discussion stems from precisions only in the verses that deal with halachic, such as in the parashat Mishpatim, for example. Malbim had a broad education which he used in his commentaries, and thus we find several times in his commentary mentions of Philo of Alexandria, Kant and other philosophers, as well as the words of the learned who preceded him.

"Mikra'ei Kodesh", a commentary to the Prophets and Hagiographa, is also about the depth of simplicity and relative length compared to other commentaries. It consists of a short part of the "interpretation of the words" and a long part of a systematic interpretation of the biblical text in question. Its commentaries have a different name for each book.

==Works==
* "''Artzoth haChayim''", commentary and [[Chidush|novellae]] on the [[Shulchan Aruch]] (section Orah Hayim, Breslau, 1837);
* "''Artzoth haShalom''", collection of sermons (Krotoschin, 1839);
* "''HaTorah vehaMitzva''", analytical and innovative commentary on the Pentateuch and the [[midrash halakha]] (Warsaw, 1874&ndash;80), including the linguistic guide Ayelet ha-Shachar on differences between similar terms in Hebrew;
* "''Mikra'ei Kodesh''", commentary on the Prophets and Hagiographa (ib. 1874; this commentary is in parallel, on the words and on the sense; Malbim always endeavored to explain the different meanings of synonyms);
* "''Mashal uMelitza''", dramatic [[philippic]], in verse, against hypocrisy (Paris, 1867).
* "''Eretz Hemdah''", Commentary on the Bible according to the Midrash. (Vilna 1929)

== References ==
{{reflist}}
* {{JewishEncyclopedia|title=MALBIM, MEIR LOEB BEN JEHIEL MICHAEL}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Meir Leibush Weiser}}
* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=106&letter=M ''Malbin'', Jewish Encyclopedia] 
* [https://archive.today/20130113055329/http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/rabbis/leibush.htm Judaism 101]
{{Acharonim}}{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1809 births]]
[[Category:1879 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century rabbis from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:19th-century Romanian rabbis]]
[[Category:Bible commentators]]
[[Category:Chief rabbis of populated places]]
[[Category:German Orthodox rabbis]]
[[Category:Romanian Orthodox rabbis]]
[[Category:Orthodox rabbis from Russia]]
[[Category:Volhynian Orthodox rabbis]]
[[Category:Exponents of Jewish law]]