71 lines
3.8 KiB
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71 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
**Shmuel Alexandrov** (1865 - 1941) was a Jewish religious scholar
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## Life
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He was born in Borysov, a district of Minsk, to Rabbi Hillel Alexandrov,
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who was known as the "Shiloach of Shklov". He studied in the local batei
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midrash and when he was fifteen, he studied chavruta from the local
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rabbi, Rabbi Yehuda Tzirel. He studied at the Volozhin Yeshiva for a
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while, but then began studying history, philosophy and natural sciences
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and left the yeshiva. In his attempt to combine the words of Chazal and
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the Jewish tradition with his new knowledge, he also learned Kabbalah
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and Habadic thought and began to formulate an independent worldview.
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Together with his friend Josef Meir Eisenstadt, he independently studied
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reading and writing in Russian and German, thus enabling them to expand
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the fields of knowledge they were interested in. In the booklet
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"Tractate Nagaim," which he printed, he sharply criticized the words of
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the Torah that were printed in the volumes of the journal Ha'asif. The
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booklet was printed with the funding that his friend, who was the
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son-in-law of a rich man, obtained and promoted the circles of the
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maskilim.
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In his essays he attempted to incorporate the ideas of well-known
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philosophers, among others: Schelling, Soloviev, Kant, Hegel and
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Bergson, with Jewish thought. He found common ground between the
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philosophy of Chabad and Schilling's philosophy, and focused his
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philosophy on this line.
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His essay, "The Legend of the Oil Fugitive," which supported the article
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by Haim Zelig Slonimsky, "May Hanukkah" \[1\], interpreted eligorically
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the story of the miraculous miracle of oil, a village in the actual
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occurrence of the miracle and aroused harsh reactions in the
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conservative street. \[2\] But caused a sharp condemnation of the
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ultra-Orthodox circles \[3\]. In 1893, he wrote his article "The Legend
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of Fire from Heaven" and devoted it to the Chasam, the article was
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printed two years later in the journal Talpiot. In a letter to the
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publisher of Talpiot, Aleksandrov wrote that he regretted the
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expressions in his essay that he rejected the Jewish tradition of the
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miracle of the oil, and wrote them only to emphasize his alternative
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explanation to the legend, To". This is what he wrote in his
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introduction to his work, Tal Tehiya, on Tractate Avot: "I regret
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complete repentance for the harsh expressions in the body of the
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receiving of the oil jug found in the books of the oil drum.
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In 1902 he joined the Mizrachi movement and took part in efforts to
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persuade Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook to join the movement's
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leadership. He continued to correspond with Rav Kook in the coming years
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in all his fields of interest.
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Until the revolution worked in the bank. After the revolution, his
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economic situation was difficult, and in 1923 he was offered the
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rabbinate of Bobruisk in place of Rabbi Simcha Noah Schneerson who died,
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but he refused but founded the "Ohavei Torah" association, which opened
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classes in the Talmud, Mishnayot and Rabbinic literature in Bobruisk.
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Under Communist rule he continued to correspond with various rabbis
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throughout Russia, but he could not do much.
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His brothers and relatives offered him a $ 1,000 fund to immigrate to
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Israel \[4\] or to print his writings in the United States. He chose the
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second option.
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Shmuel Alexandrov perished with the liquidation of the Bobruisk ghetto
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on the 17th of November, 1941. his family
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In 1937 he married Gittel, daughter of Mordechai Katzenelson of
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Bobruisk, and Alexander Alexandrov's wife's family saw him as a bum and
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removed his two daughters and his only son, and his son Alexander was
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sent against his will to study in Russian schools. He was known as a
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historian and researcher of Jewish literature, and he directed the
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Department of Jewish History in Ancient and Middle Ages at the Institute
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of Oriental Studies at Leningrad University. archives |