Shemuel Shelomo Boyarski
Encyclopedia
Rabbi Shemuel Shelomo ben Moshe Meir Boyarski (around 1820 - after 1894), known as "Rashash Boyarski" (רש"ש בויארסקי), after the initials of his personal names, was a Lithuanian rabbinical scholar
and ritual scribe who lived in Jerusalem, as part of the Old Yishuv
. He was the author of the book ‘Ammudé Shesh (עמודי שש), a rabbinical work on various Jewish religious topics, which he published in Jerusalem in 1894. (The book deals with various topics, including "the section about the Biblical Codex" (שער כתר תורה), about the famous Aleppo Codex
. It is this section which has made Boyarski known to history, for the Codex was still undamaged in his day, whereas much of it was lost in 1948.)
in Vilna at the time of the R. Elijah
, the Gaon of Vilna (mid-18th century). His brother, Israel Hayyim (died 1888), was the gabbai
of the Jewish community of Brisk (i.e., immigrants from Brisk) in Palestine, and the founder of the Grodno
kollel
in Palestine.
, around 1820. From early on, young Shemuel Shelomo was considered quite a prodigy, so Zev Wolf, rabbi of Bialistok (author of a number of works on halakha
, such as Aggudath Ezov and Mar’oth Ha-tzov’oth) gave Boyarski his daughter in marriage, and gave him space to study in his house. However, R. Zev Wolf died after a few years, and Boyarski went on to study with Rabbi Eliezer Landau (author of Dammeseq Eli‘ezer), in Hrodna.
After two years studying with Rabbi Landau, Boyarski lost his wife. He was left with their two children, Zev Wolf and Avigdor. He remarried, to a woman named Rachel Leah, daughter of R. Baruch of Kovno, but had no children with her. Rachel Leah financially supported Shemuel Shelomo and his two children, so that he would not have to take any job, even a rabbinical position. She financed the writing of scrolls of the entire Hebrew Bible
: Torah
, Nevi'im
, and Kethuvim. Although Torah scrolls are quite common, it is much less common to find scrolls of the Nevi'im, and extremely uncommon to find scrolls of the Kethuvim.
It was in Jerusalem that Boyarski wrote his published works.
[needs expansion]
" (על ענייני הקרבנות ועבודת בית המקדש). However, this describes the content only of Part I of the book. Part II deals with various other topics, including the Aleppo Codex.
In addition to his main work, ‘Ammudé Shesh (1894), Boyarski published also a small book called Dim‘ath Ha-‘ashuqim (The Tears of the Oppressed, an allusion to Ecclesiastes 4:1), in 1864. In the 1870s, he wrote articles on religious subjects for the Hebrew journals Havatzeleth and Sha‘aré Tziyyon, but he eventually stopped writing for them, because he felt that it was inappropriate to write articles about Torah in periodical journals, which were liable to be thrown out after being read. (Throwing away the articles would be disrespectful to their religious content.).
Scrolls of Nakh (Nevi'im
Boyarski had a unique attitude towards the written form of Scripture. It has been typical among Jewish communities for the past millennium to use codex
es of Scripture in most situations; since the invention of printing, these have typically been printed codexes. The traditional handwritten scrolls have been retained only for the Torah and the Book of Esther
, and even for these books, the scrolls are used only in official liturgical readings. In the eighteenth century, Rabbi Elijah
, the Gaon of Vilna, had instituted for haftaroth to be read from handwritten scrolls of the books of Nevi'im, and had ordered a set of full scrolls of all books of Scripture, including even the Kethuvim. Nonetheless, there is no evidence that the Gaon avoided using codices for personal study. In the century following the innovation of the Vilna Gaon, it became moderately common in many communities to write Nevi'im on scrolls, because the books of the Nevi'im are used for liturgical reading of the haftara. On the other hand, it was exceedingly uncommon to write books of the Kethuvim on scrolls.
Boyarski writes, in ‘Ammudé Shesh (Part II, folio 3a, §12):
Boyarski himself wrote a full set of kosher scrolls of all the books of Nevi'im and Kethuvim (in addition to the Torah). Moreover, he also wrote an additional copy of the Book of Psalms, which he sent to a brother of his, who lived in Brisk. Boyarski intended that reading from these scrolls should be preceded by a special berakha, ברוך אתה ה' אלהינו מלך העולם אשר קדשנו במצוותיו וצוונו לקרות בכתובים, "Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us to read from the Scriptures." Although this berakha appears in the early medieval text Tractate Sofrim
, it is not part of normative Jewish practice. Modern Judaism has tended to be extremely wary of reciting berakhoth which are not standard, so deciding to recite this berakha was quite unconventional on Boyarski's part.
Boyarski mentions explicitly messianic
associations of his project of restoring the ancient form of writing Scripture, as we see when he mentions the resurrection of Biblical figures. This seems to be part of a general trend among Jews in nineteenth-century Palestine and elsewhere, who were restoring ancient practices—most obviously, the "practice" of living in Eretz Yisrael, but also (later on in the nineteenth century, in Eastern Europe) practices such as wearing tekheleth
in their tzitzith. Zvi Hirsch Kalischer
even wanted to restore the ancient sacrificial cult. (The fact that Boyarski wrote a book on the sacrifices—part I of ‘Ammudé Shesh -- might be evidence that he, too, was interested in this project.)
. Kimchi spent some time carefully studying the codex there, and he jotted down his findings in the margins of a printed Hebrew Bible belonging to his father-in-law.
In 1948, during Syrian riots in Aleppo, the Aleppo Codex was damaged, and scholars believed that it had been destroyed. In 1957, it was discovered that much of the codex had survived, and had been smuggled into Jerusalem. However, scholars were interested in reconstructing the missing portions of the codex, and looked for secondary sources which could help them in this endeavor.
Although scholars could not locate the Bible belonging to Yellin and Kimchi, they knew of its existence, from Boyarski's references to it in ‘Ammudé Shesh. This was all that was known about this Bible until 1989, when Yosef Ofer discovered the actual item.
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
and ritual scribe who lived in Jerusalem, as part of the Old Yishuv
Old Yishuv
The Old Yishuv refers to the Jewish community that lived in the Land of Israel from the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE to the First Aliyah in 1881-82, prior to the onset of Zionist immigration....
. He was the author of the book ‘Ammudé Shesh (עמודי שש), a rabbinical work on various Jewish religious topics, which he published in Jerusalem in 1894. (The book deals with various topics, including "the section about the Biblical Codex" (שער כתר תורה), about the famous Aleppo Codex
Aleppo Codex
The Aleppo Codex is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the 10th century A.D.The codex has long been considered to be the most authoritative document in the masorah , the tradition by which the Hebrew Scriptures have been preserved from generation to generation...
. It is this section which has made Boyarski known to history, for the Codex was still undamaged in his day, whereas much of it was lost in 1948.)
Family
Boyarski came from a distinguished rabbinical family; his grandfather's brother, Shemuel [ben] Avigdor, was a rabbinical judgeBeth din
A beth din, bet din, beit din or beis din is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel...
in Vilna at the time of the R. Elijah
Vilna Gaon
Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman Kramer, known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna and simply by his Hebrew acronym Gra or Elijah Ben Solomon, , was a Talmudist, halachist, kabbalist, and the foremost leader of non-hasidic Jewry of the past few centuries...
, the Gaon of Vilna (mid-18th century). His brother, Israel Hayyim (died 1888), was the gabbai
Gabbai
A Gabbai is a person who assists in the running of a synagogue and ensures that the needs are met, for example the Jewish prayer services run smoothly, or an assistant to a rabbi...
of the Jewish community of Brisk (i.e., immigrants from Brisk) in Palestine, and the founder of the Grodno
Hrodna
Grodno or Hrodna , is a city in Belarus. It is located on the Neman River , close to the borders of Poland and Lithuania . It has 327,540 inhabitants...
kollel
Halukka
The halukka was an organized distribution and collection of funds for the residents of the Yishuv haYashan in the Holy Land; which were organized into Kolelim...
in Palestine.
In Europe
Boyarski was born in the city of HrodnaHrodna
Grodno or Hrodna , is a city in Belarus. It is located on the Neman River , close to the borders of Poland and Lithuania . It has 327,540 inhabitants...
, around 1820. From early on, young Shemuel Shelomo was considered quite a prodigy, so Zev Wolf, rabbi of Bialistok (author of a number of works on halakha
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
, such as Aggudath Ezov and Mar’oth Ha-tzov’oth) gave Boyarski his daughter in marriage, and gave him space to study in his house. However, R. Zev Wolf died after a few years, and Boyarski went on to study with Rabbi Eliezer Landau (author of Dammeseq Eli‘ezer), in Hrodna.
After two years studying with Rabbi Landau, Boyarski lost his wife. He was left with their two children, Zev Wolf and Avigdor. He remarried, to a woman named Rachel Leah, daughter of R. Baruch of Kovno, but had no children with her. Rachel Leah financially supported Shemuel Shelomo and his two children, so that he would not have to take any job, even a rabbinical position. She financed the writing of scrolls of the entire Hebrew Bible
Tanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
: Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
, Nevi'im
Nevi'im
Nevi'im is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. It falls between the Torah and Ketuvim .Nevi'im is traditionally divided into two parts:...
, and Kethuvim. Although Torah scrolls are quite common, it is much less common to find scrolls of the Nevi'im, and extremely uncommon to find scrolls of the Kethuvim.
In Palestine
In 1857, Boyarski and his family moved to Jerusalem. Here, too, he did not take any rabbinical position or profession, but spent his time studying religious texts. He was supported by his brother, Israel Hayyim, who was living in the Holy Land at this point.It was in Jerusalem that Boyarski wrote his published works.
[needs expansion]
Works
Boyarski's main work, ‘Ammudé Shesh, says on its title page: "On the topic of the sacrifices and service performed in the TempleTemple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
" (על ענייני הקרבנות ועבודת בית המקדש). However, this describes the content only of Part I of the book. Part II deals with various other topics, including the Aleppo Codex.
In addition to his main work, ‘Ammudé Shesh (1894), Boyarski published also a small book called Dim‘ath Ha-‘ashuqim (The Tears of the Oppressed, an allusion to Ecclesiastes 4:1), in 1864. In the 1870s, he wrote articles on religious subjects for the Hebrew journals Havatzeleth and Sha‘aré Tziyyon, but he eventually stopped writing for them, because he felt that it was inappropriate to write articles about Torah in periodical journals, which were liable to be thrown out after being read. (Throwing away the articles would be disrespectful to their religious content.).
Scrolls of Nakh (Nevi'imNevi'imNevi'im is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. It falls between the Torah and Ketuvim .Nevi'im is traditionally divided into two parts:...
and KethuvimKetuvimKetuvim or Kəṯûḇîm in actual Biblical Hebrew is the third and final section of the Tanak , after Torah and Nevi'im . In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually entitled "Writings" or "Hagiographa"...
)
Boyarski had a unique attitude towards the written form of Scripture. It has been typical among Jewish communities for the past millennium to use codexCodex
A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...
es of Scripture in most situations; since the invention of printing, these have typically been printed codexes. The traditional handwritten scrolls have been retained only for the Torah and the Book of Esther
Book of Esther
The Book of Esther is a book in the Ketuvim , the third section of the Jewish Tanakh and is part of the Christian Old Testament. The Book of Esther or the Megillah is the basis for the Jewish celebration of Purim...
, and even for these books, the scrolls are used only in official liturgical readings. In the eighteenth century, Rabbi Elijah
Vilna Gaon
Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman Kramer, known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna and simply by his Hebrew acronym Gra or Elijah Ben Solomon, , was a Talmudist, halachist, kabbalist, and the foremost leader of non-hasidic Jewry of the past few centuries...
, the Gaon of Vilna, had instituted for haftaroth to be read from handwritten scrolls of the books of Nevi'im, and had ordered a set of full scrolls of all books of Scripture, including even the Kethuvim. Nonetheless, there is no evidence that the Gaon avoided using codices for personal study. In the century following the innovation of the Vilna Gaon, it became moderately common in many communities to write Nevi'im on scrolls, because the books of the Nevi'im are used for liturgical reading of the haftara. On the other hand, it was exceedingly uncommon to write books of the Kethuvim on scrolls.
Boyarski writes, in ‘Ammudé Shesh (Part II, folio 3a, §12):
- As I have written, the printed books, including those of Scripture, will lose all their sanctity [in Messianic times], and the old prohibition will be restored -- that is, it will be prohibited to read or study Scripture from any item other than a scroll written on parchment, in accordance with the halakhaHalakhaHalakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
. And when the Resurrection of the DeadResurrection of the deadResurrection of the Dead is a belief found in a number of eschatologies, most commonly in Christian, Islamic, Jewish and Zoroastrian. In general, the phrase refers to a specific event in the future; multiple prophesies in the histories of these religions assert that the dead will be brought back to...
takes place, the old Biblical figures will return: Moses, who wrote the Book of JobBook of JobThe Book of Job , commonly referred to simply as Job, is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. It relates the story of Job, his trials at the hands of Satan, his discussions with friends on the origins and nature of his suffering, his challenge to God, and finally a response from God. The book is a...
; King David, who wrote the Book of Psalms; King Solomon, who wrote the Book of ProverbsBook of ProverbsThe Book of Proverbs , commonly referred to simply as Proverbs, is a book of the Hebrew Bible.The original Hebrew title of the book of Proverbs is "Míshlê Shlomoh" . When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different forms. In the Greek Septuagint the title became "paroimai paroimiae"...
; and EzraEzraEzra , also called Ezra the Scribe and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra. According to the Hebrew Bible he returned from the Babylonian exile and reintroduced the Torah in Jerusalem...
and the men of the Keneseth Ha-gedolaGreat AssemblyThe Great Assembly or Anshei Knesset HaGedolah , also known as the Great Synagogue, was, according to Jewish tradition, an assembly of 120 scribes, sages, and prophets, in the period from the end of the Biblical prophets to the time of the development of Rabbinic Judaism, marking a transition from...
. These individuals all went through such effort to write their books on parchment, in accordance with halakha, with features such as Qeré and Kethiv, and Open and Closed Paragraphs, in accordance with intentions which they had; they did so not only for their own amusement, but as a legacy for all generations. When they return, they will ask: "Where is my book?" They will not be happy with the printed copies—and (if we do not start producing kosher scrolls of the books), there will not be a single proper copy in the whole Jewish people. Will we not be greatly ashamed then?
Boyarski himself wrote a full set of kosher scrolls of all the books of Nevi'im and Kethuvim (in addition to the Torah). Moreover, he also wrote an additional copy of the Book of Psalms, which he sent to a brother of his, who lived in Brisk. Boyarski intended that reading from these scrolls should be preceded by a special berakha, ברוך אתה ה' אלהינו מלך העולם אשר קדשנו במצוותיו וצוונו לקרות בכתובים, "Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us to read from the Scriptures." Although this berakha appears in the early medieval text Tractate Sofrim
Soferim (Talmud)
Soferim is a Talmudic treatise dealing especially with the rules relating to the preparation of the holy books, as well as with the regulations for the reading of the Law. It belongs to the so-called "smaller tractates," a term applied to about 15 works in rabbinical literature, each containing...
, it is not part of normative Jewish practice. Modern Judaism has tended to be extremely wary of reciting berakhoth which are not standard, so deciding to recite this berakha was quite unconventional on Boyarski's part.
Boyarski mentions explicitly messianic
Messianic
Messianic primarily means 'of the Messiah .Messianic may also mean:*Messianic Complex, a psychological state of mind*Messianic democracy, democracy by force*Messianic prophecies*MessianismMessianic may refer to:...
associations of his project of restoring the ancient form of writing Scripture, as we see when he mentions the resurrection of Biblical figures. This seems to be part of a general trend among Jews in nineteenth-century Palestine and elsewhere, who were restoring ancient practices—most obviously, the "practice" of living in Eretz Yisrael, but also (later on in the nineteenth century, in Eastern Europe) practices such as wearing tekheleth
Tekhelet
Tekhelet, , Tekheleth, Techelet or Techeiles is a blue dye mentioned 50 times in the Hebrew Bible and translated by the Septuagint as hyakinthinos . Its uses include the clothing of the High Priest, the tapestries in the Tabernacle, and the tassels to be affixed to the corners of one's garments...
in their tzitzith. Zvi Hirsch Kalischer
Zvi Hirsch Kalischer
Zvi Hirsch Kalischer was an Orthodox German rabbi and one of Zionism's early pioneers in Germany.-Life:...
even wanted to restore the ancient sacrificial cult. (The fact that Boyarski wrote a book on the sacrifices—part I of ‘Ammudé Shesh -- might be evidence that he, too, was interested in this project.)
Private use of Torah scrolls, by individuals at home
Boyarski rules (in `Ammudé Shesh, Part II, folio 2a, §6) that when an individual reads from a kosher Torah scroll, even totally alone, a berakha must be recited beforehand, just as in a public reading. Traditional halakha assumes that if one recites a berakha over Torah-study once a day, early in the morning, one need not recite another berakha for any further private Torah-study in which one engages over the rest of the day. Boyarski rules that this does not apply to an act of study in which one uses a kosher Torah scroll; rather, in such a case, one must recite a separate berakha each time one begins a new act of study. Moreover, he cites a story in the Talmud, Bava Meẓi‘a 85b, according to which the Temple was destroyed because the Jews of the time did not recite a berakha before studying Torah. Boyarski says that this story refers specifically to the case of private reading from Torah scrolls; he says that the Jews at the time of the Temple relied on the berakha which they had recited earlier in the morning, but they should have recited a berakha again before each time they opened up their Torah scrolls to read from them. Because they did this wrong, they were punished with the destruction of the Temple (!).Importance to Twentieth-Century scholars studying the Aleppo Codex
In order to produce kosher scrolls, Boyarski needed to have an accurate copy of the letter-text of Scripture, and of the paragraph breaks, and of the proper poetic layout of the books Psalms, Proverbs, and Job. For this purpose, he became somehow involved in the project of Moses Joshua Kimchi, the son-in-law of R. Shalom Shachne Yellin of Skydel; Kimchi went on an expedition to Aleppo, to examine the highly reputed Aleppo CodexAleppo Codex
The Aleppo Codex is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the 10th century A.D.The codex has long been considered to be the most authoritative document in the masorah , the tradition by which the Hebrew Scriptures have been preserved from generation to generation...
. Kimchi spent some time carefully studying the codex there, and he jotted down his findings in the margins of a printed Hebrew Bible belonging to his father-in-law.
In 1948, during Syrian riots in Aleppo, the Aleppo Codex was damaged, and scholars believed that it had been destroyed. In 1957, it was discovered that much of the codex had survived, and had been smuggled into Jerusalem. However, scholars were interested in reconstructing the missing portions of the codex, and looked for secondary sources which could help them in this endeavor.
Although scholars could not locate the Bible belonging to Yellin and Kimchi, they knew of its existence, from Boyarski's references to it in ‘Ammudé Shesh. This was all that was known about this Bible until 1989, when Yosef Ofer discovered the actual item.