KRAMER, MOSES BEN DAVID, OF VILNA
- KRAMER, MOSES BEN DAVID, OF VILNA
- KRAMER, MOSES BEN DAVID, OF VILNA (d. 1688), talmudist and
rabbinic leader. Kramer was born in Cracow. He was called Kramer
(shopkeeper) because he obtained his livelihood from a shop managed by
his wife, refusing to accept a salary from the community. After serving
for a time as dayyan in Brest-Litovsk, he was appointed as
head of the Vilna bet din in 1673. He was regarded as one of
the main Jewish spokesmen of his
time and participated in the meetings of the council of four lands
. His name appears among the signatories to the resolutions adopted at
the "assembly of Selts," at the "assembly of Leaders," and, together
with other Lithuanian rabbis, at the "assembly of Khomsk." Kramer was an
erudite scholar but no works written by him are known. However his
son-in-law, Joseph b. Jacob of Pinczow, included some of his statements
in his Rosh Yosef (Amsterdam, 1707). In the introduction he
states, "I have included many things which I myself heard from my
father-in-law, Moses. As is well known he excelled in many directions,
both in the revealed law and in esoteric lore. He would almost seem to
have been divinely inspired and wondrous deeds were accomplished by
him…. He directed great yeshivot." His extant statements indeed reveal
brilliance and profundity. Many of his novellae are quoted in the
Derash Shemu'el of Samuel Feibush (Duerenfurth, 1694). Many
great scholars and leaders of Vilna were descended from him, including
Elijah of Vilna.
-BIBLIOGRAPHY:
S.J. Fuenn, Kiryah Ne'emanah (19152), 102–3; Ḥ.N.
Dembitzer, Kelilat Yofi, 1 (1888), 71; H.N.
Maggid-Steinschneider, Ir Vilna (1900), 9–11.
(Abram Juda Goldrat)
Encyclopedia Judaica.
1971.
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