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For other uses, see Magid.

Maggid (מַגִּיד), sometimes spelled as magid) is traditional Eastern European Jewish religious itinerant preacher, skilled as a narrator of Torah and religious stories. Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Preacher is a term the for someone who preaches Sermons or gives homilies A preacher of the more scholarly sort was called "darshan" and usually occupied the official position of rabbi. Rabbi (pronunciation, although in English usually) in Judaism, means a religious ‘teacher’ or more literally ‘my great one’ when addressing any master The title of "maggid mesharim" (= "a preacher of uprightness"; abbreviated) probably dates from the sixteenth century.

There always have been two distinct classes of leaders in Israel—the scholar and rabbi, and the preacher or maggid. That the popular prophet was sometimes called "maggid" is maintained by those who translate "maggid mishneh" Zech. ix. 12, by "the maggid repeats" (Löwy, "Beqoret ha-Talmud," p. Loewy (or Löwy) is a surname and may refer to Emanuel Löwy (1857-1938 classical archaeologist and theorist Maurice Loewy 50). Like the Greek sophists, the early maggidim based their preaching on questions addressed to them by the multitude. Thus the Pesiqta, the first collection of set speeches, usually begins with "yelammedenu rabbenu" (= "let our master teach us"). An excellent example is the Passover Haggadah, which is introduced by four questions; the reciter of the answer is called "maggid. " When there were no questions the maggid chose a Biblical text, which was called the "petichah" (opening).

Contents

Popularity of the Maggid

The greater popularity of the maggid as compared with the darshan is instanced by the fact that the people left the lecture-room of R. Chiyya, the darshan, and flocked to hear R. Abbahu, the maggid. Abbahu ( אבהו) was a Jewish Talmudist known as an Amora, who lived in the Land of Israel, of the 3rd amoraic generation (about 279-320 To appease the sensitive Chiyya, Abbahu modestly declared, "We are like two merchants, one selling diamonds and the other selling trinkets, which are more in demand" (Sotah 40a). Nashim ("Women" or "Wives" is the third order of the Mishnah (also of the Tosefta and Talmud) containing the laws related to women Talmudists like R. Meïr combined the functions of a darshan and a maggid (Sanh. 38b). When R. Isaac Nappacha was requested by one in his audience to preach a popular haggadah, and by another a halakic discourse, he answered, "I am like the man who had two wives, one young and one old, and each wishing her husband to resemble her in appearance; the younger pulled out his gray hair while the older pulled out his black hair, with the result that he became entirely bald. " R. Isaac thereupon delivered a lecture that embraced both halakah and haggadah (B. Halakha ( הלכה; alternative transliterations include Halocho and Halacha) is the collective body of Jewish Religious law The Haggadah (הגדה is a Jewish religious text that sets out the order of the Passover Seder. Q. 60b).

In Geonic times

Levi ben Sisi, his son Joshua, and others were at the head of a regular school of rabbinical maggidim. Geonim ( Hebrew: גאונים also transliterated Gaonim) were the presidents of the two great rabbinical colleges of Sura Levi ben Sisi or Levi bar Sisi ( Sisyi, Susyi, Hebrew: לוי בר סיסי) was a Jewish scholar disciple of the patriarch R. Ze'era was opposed to their methods of twisting and distorting the Biblical verses to suit their momentary fancy. In Ze'era's estimation their works were of no more value than books on magic (Yer. Ma'as. iii. 9). In the geonic period and in the Middle Ages the principal of the yeshibah, or the rabbi, delivered a lecture before each festival, giving instructions in the laws governing the days of the festival. The maggid's function was to preach to the common people in the vernacular whenever occasion required, usually on Sabbath afternoon, basing his sermon on the sidra of the week. The wandering, or traveling, maggid then began to appear, and subsequently became a power in Jewry. His mission was to preach morality, to awaken the dormant spirit of Judaism, and to keep alive the Messianic hope in the hearts of the people. The maggidim's deliverances were generally lacking in literary merit, and were composed largely of current phrases, old quotations, and Biblical interpretations which were designed merely for temporary effect; therefore none of the sermons which were delivered by them have been preserved.

Maggidism reached a period of high literary activity in the sixteenth century. The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 revealed a master maggid in Isaac Abravanel. His homiletic commentary on the Bible became an inexhaustible source of suggestion for future maggidim. In his method of explaining every chapter, preceded by a number of questions, he followed the early maggidim and sophists. His long argumentations in an easy and fluent style were admirably suited to the purposes of a maggid. Moses Alshech, a maggid in Safed, Palestine, preached every Sabbath before large audiences. In his commentaries he followed closely the method of Abravanel. Alshech also became an authority for the maggidim, who quoted him frequently.

Relation to Messianism

The persecutions of the Jews brought forth a number of maggidim who endeavored to excite the Messianic hope as a balm to the troubled and oppressed Jewry. Asher Lemmlein preached in Germany and Austria, announcing the coming of the Messiah in 1502, and found credence everywhere. Solomon Molko preached, without declaring the date of the advent, in both Italy and Turkey, and as a result was burned at the stake in Mantua in 1533. R. Höschel of Cracow (d. 1663) delighted in the elucidation of difficult passages in the midrash known as the "Midrash Peli'ah" (= "wonderful" or "obscure" midrash). H. Ersohn's biography of Höschel, in his "Chanukkat ha-Torah" (Pietrkov, 1900), gives a collection of 227 "sayings" gathered from 227 books by various writers, mostly Höschel's pupils. These sayings became current among the maggidim, who repeated them on every occasion. Some maggidim copied his methods and even created a pseudo-Midrash Peli'ah for the purpose of explaining the original ingeniously in the manner initiated by R. Höschel.

The "Shebet' Musar"

Elijah b. Solomon Abraham of Smyrna, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, published his "Shebet' Musar", which he divided into fifty-two chapters, one for each week. This article is on the Ancient Greek city of Smyrna principally in connection with the ruins remaining to this day This book caused him to be known as the "Terror Maggid"; he preached moral and religious conduct as a safeguard against the terrible punishments of the day of judgment. Dante could not picture the horrors of hell and the punishments awaiting the wicked more minutely than did the author of the "Shebet' Musar". It established a new "fire and brimstone" school of maggidim. Judah Rosanes of Constantinople (d. Judah ben Samuel Rosanes (1657-1727 was Rabbi of Constantinople and son-in-law of Abraham Rosanes I. 1727), in his "Parashat Derakim," combined the darshan with the maggid. He adopted a new method of harmonizing the acts of Biblical personages with the legal views of Talmudic scholars. For instance, Pharaoh, in refusing to release Israel from bondage, acted according to the contention of Abaye, while Moses insisted on Israel's release in accordance with the decision of Rabba. This farfetched pilpulism had many followers, some of whom asserted that Ahasuerus concurred in the decision of Maimonides, and that Vashti coincided with the opinion of RaBaD. Pilpul ( Hebrew: פלפול loosely meaning "sharp analysis" refers to a method of studying the Talmud through intense textual analysis in attempts to either

The Dubner Maggid

Jacob Kranz of Dubno, the Dubner Maggid (d. Jacob ben Wolf Kranz of Dubno (יעקב קרנץ the Dubner Maggid (he מגיד מדובנא was a Lithuania ( Belarus)-born Preacher ( Jacob ben Wolf Kranz of Dubno (יעקב קרנץ the Dubner Maggid (he מגיד מדובנא was a Lithuania ( Belarus)-born Preacher ( 1804), author of "Ohel Ya'aqob", adopted the Midrash's method of explaining by parables and the incidents of daily life, such as the relations between the man of the city and the "yeshubnik" (village man), between the bride, the bridegroom, and the "mechuttanim" (contracting parents), and compared their relations to those between Israel and God. He drew also moral lessons from the "Arabian Nights" and from other secular stories in illustrating explanations of a midrash or a Biblical text. Moses Mendelssohn named Kranz the "Jewish Æsop". Moses Mendelssohn ( Dessau, 6 September 1729 4 January 1786 in Berlin) was a German Jewish Philosopher Aesop (also spelled Æsop, from the Greek Αἴσωπος — Aisōpos) (620-560 BC) known only for the genre of Fables

His most famous parable is about how he finds appropriate parables: Walking in the woods a man sees many trees with targets drawn on them. Each target with an arrow in the center, and a little boy with a bow. the little boy acknowledges that he had shot all the arrows. When further questioned he answers: 'First I shoot the arrow, then I draw the target'.

Kranz's pupil Abraham Dov Bär Flahm edited and published the Dubner Maggid's writings, and a host of other maggidim adopted this method. In the same period there were Jacob Israel of Kremnitz, author of "Shebet' mi-Yisrael," a commentary on the Psalms (Zolkiev, 1772); Judah Löw Edel of Slonim, author of "Afiqe Yehudah," sermons (Lemberg, 1802); Chayyim Abraham Katz of Moghilef, author of "Milchama ve-Shalom" (Shklov, 1797); Ezekiel Feiwel of Deretschin, author of "Toledot Adam" (Dyhernfurth, 1809) and maggid in Wilna (Levinsohn, "Bet Yehudah," ii. Zhovkva (Жовква Żółkiew Zholkva is a City in the Lviv Oblast ( province) of western Ukraine. Lviv ( Ukrainian: Львів, L’viv, Lwów Lemberg Львов L'vov; see also other names) is a major city in western Škłoŭ (Шклоў ʂkɫɔu̯ Шклов Shklov) is a town in the Mogilev Province of Belarus, located 35 km north of Mogilev on the 149).

In modern times, a descendent of the Dubner Maggid, Moshe Kranc wrote down several parables of his, along with modern interpretations, in a book about business and Jewish stories: "The Hasidic Masters' Guide to Management".

Philosophical Maggidim

The most celebrated maggid during the nineteenth century was Moses Isaac ben Noah Darshan, the "Kelmer Maggid" (b. 1828; d. 1900, in Lida). Lida (Лі́да Ли́да Lyda Lida is a city in western Belarus in Hrodna Voblast, situated 160 km west of Minsk. He was among the "terror" maggidim of the "Shebet' Musar" school and preached to crowded synagogues for over fifty years in almost every city of Russian Poland. Another prominent maggid was Chayyim Tzedeq, known as the "Rumsheshker" (Gersoni, "Sketches of Jewish Life and History," pp. 62-74, New York, 1873). New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous The "philosophical" maggid is one who preaches from Arama's "Aqedat" and Bachya's "Chobot ha-Lebabot. " Enoch Sundl Luria, the author of "Kenaf Renanim", on "Pirqe Shirah" (Krotoschin, 1842), was a noted philosophical maggid. Krotoszyn (Krotoschin is a town in central Poland with 30010 inhabitants As of 2005.

Meïr Leibush Malbim (d. Meïr Leibush ben Jehiel Michel Weiser (March 7 1809 - September 18 1879 better known by the Acronym Malbim (מלבי"ם 1880), in his voluminous commentaries on the Bible, followed to some extent Abravanel and Alshech, and his conclusions are pointed and logical. Malbim's commentaries are considered to offer the best material for the use of maggidim.

From the "terror", or "Musar", maggid developed the "penitential" maggid, who, especially during the month of Elul and the ten days of penitence between New-Year's Day and Yom Kippur, urged the wicked to repent of their sins and seek God's forgiveness. Mussar movement refers to a Jewish ethical, educational and cultural movement (a "Jewish Moralist Movement" that developed in 19th century Orthodox Rosh Hashanah (ראש השנה literally "head of the year" Biblical: ˈɾoʃ haʃːɔˈnɔh Israeli haʃaˈna Yiddish: hɑˈʃɔnə is a Jewish Yom Kippur (יוֹם כִּפּוּר ˈjɔm kiˈpur also known in English as the Day of Atonement, is the most solemn and important of the Jewish holidays Its Jacob Joseph, chief rabbi of the Russian Jews in New York (d. 1902), formerly maggid of Wilna, was one of these. In the middle of his preaching he would pause to recite with the people the "Shema koleinu", and the "Ashamnu," raising the audience to a high pitch of religious emotion. The maggid usually ends his preaching with the words. "u-ba le-Tziyyon goel," etc. (a redeemer shall come to Zion speedily in our days; let us say "Amen"). Some of the wandering maggidim act also as meshullaḥim. The yeshibot in Russia and the charitable institutions of Jerusalem, especially the Wa'ad ha-Kelali, send abroad meshullaḥ-maggidim. The resident maggid who preaches at different synagogues in one city is called the "Stadt Maggid", as in Wilna and other large cities in Russia. The modern, or "maskil", maggid is called "Volksredner" (people's orator), and closely follows the German "Prediger" in his method of preaching. Haskalah ( Hebrew: השכלה "enlightenment" "education" from sekhel " Intellect " "mind") the Jewish Enlightenment Tzebi Hirsch Dainow (d. 1877) was the first of the modern type of maggid, which soon developed into that of the "national," or "Zionistic," maggid. Tzvi Hirsch Masliansky and Joseph Zeff, both of New York, are representatives of the latter class. See Homiletics.

Hasidic Maggidim

Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch (דוב בער ממזריטש‎) (1704/1710 (?) – 1772-12-04 OS) was known as the Maggid — "Preacher" or literally "Sayer," one who rebukes and admonishes to go in God's ways — of Mezritsh after being the Maggid of the town of Rovne. Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch ( דוב בער ממזריטש ‎ (1704/1710(? &ndash 1772-12-04 OS) was a disciple of Rabbi Yisrael Baal Year 1772 ( MDCCLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a "December 4th" redirects here For the song by Jay-Z, see December 4th (song. Old Style (or OS) and New Style (or NS) are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year Mezhirichi (Meжірічі is a village in the Koretskyi Raion of the Rivne Oblast, Ukraine. Soborna Street-Rivne 2JPG|thumb|left|200px|Soborna (Cathedral Street]]Maidan Nezalezhnosti-Rivne He was a disciple of Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidic Judaism, and largely seen as his successor. Rabbi Yisroel (Israel ben Eliezer (רבי ישראל בן אליעזר August 27, 1698 (18 Elul &ndash May 22, 1760) often called Hasidic Judaism (also Chasidic, etc from the Hebrew: he '''''חסידות''''', Chassidus, meaning "piety" from the Hebrew Rabbi Dov Ber is regarded as the first proponent and exponent of Hasidism and one of its most important propagators. [1]

His teachings appear in the volume, Magid Devarav L'Yaakov. He had an inner circle of disciples known as the Chevra Kadisha ("Holy Brotherhood") that included Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk, Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev, Rabbi Aharon (HaGadol) of Karlin, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, and Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. Elimelech Weisblum of Lizhensk ( Polish: Leżajsk) (1717-1786 was an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi and one of the great Hassidic Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev (1740-1810 known as the Berdichever Rebbe was a Rabbi and Hasidic leader Karlin-Stolin is the name of a Hasidic Dynasty originating with Rebbe Aaron the Great of Karlin in present-day Belarus. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk (1730 &ndash 1788 also known as Menachem Mendel of Horodok was an early leader of Hasidic Judaism Shneur Zalman of Liadi ( שניאור זלמן מליאדי) ( September 4, 1745 – December 15, 1812 O

Notable Maggidim

Kozhnitser (Kozienizer)Magid : Yisroel Hopsztajn (c. Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the 1733 - 1814), author of the classic Avodas Yisroel.

Rebbe Yisroel Hopsztajn, the founder of the Kozhnitz dynasty, and one of the three "patriarchs" of Polish Hasidism, was a disciple of Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk (Rabbi Elimelech Weisblum of Lizhensk), author of Noam Elimelech. The Rebbe Elimelech was a disciple of the Rebbe Dovber, the Maggid ("preacher") of Mezeritch, the primary disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism.

Maggid of Dubno Project

References

  1. ^ Kaufmann Kohler & Louis Ginzberg. "Baer (Dob) of Meseritz", Jewish Encyclopedia, retrieved May 20, 2006

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain. The Jewish Encyclopedia was an Encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone

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