Tur - Rabbi Jacob ben Asher (1269-1343), Spain; Composer of Arba’ah Turim, tracing Halacha from the Torah through the Talmud and early Poskim, citing the author’s opinions as well as dissenting opinions. Many commentaries were written on the Tur, most prominent among them Rabbi Yosef Karo’s “Beit Yosef,” which formed the basis of the Shulchan Arukh.
Rashi - R’ Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040-1105), Troyes, France. "Rabban Shel Yisrael" - The great Rishon who wrote commentary on all areas of Torah.
Vilna Gaon - (The Gra) R’ Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman (1720-1797), Vilnius, Poland, Lithuania. Foremost leader of misnagdic Jewry of the past few centuries. Considered the father of the stream of Lithuanian Kabbalah, and remembered as a leader of the opposition to the Hasidic movement.
Tiferet Shlomo - R' Shlomo Hakohen Rabinowicz (1801-1866); Born into a Polish rabbinic family and noted as a child prodigy, he made his way to the chassidic court of Rabbi Meir of Apta. Connecting to several other chassidic figures along the way, he eventually established his own hassidic court in Radamsk, in the context of which he was able to use his great talents, both as a communal leader and as a hassidic rebbe. Tiferet Shomo is a sefer of discourses on the parsha and on holidays; considered a chassidic classic.
Zohar - Central work of mystical tradition of Kabbalah. Traditionally attributed to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. First appeared in 13th-century Spain.
Divrei Chaim - R’ Yoel Teitelbaum (1887-1979), Hungary, New York; Founder and first Rebbe of the Satmar dynasty. A major figure in the post-war renaissance of Chasidism, he espoused a strictly conservative and isolationist line, rejecting modernity.
Rav Yechezkel of Kozmir - Rav Yechezkel Taub (1772-1856), Poland; Student of the Chozeh of Lublin and the Kohznitzer Maggid. Established yeshivas and a type of Chasidic teaching that was similar to that of his rebbes. Grew famous for his musical talents and composed many melodies. His teachings are collected in Necḥmad Mi-zahav.
Rav Shteinman - Rav Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman (1914-2017), Brisk, Switzerland, Bnei Brak; Widely regarded as the Gadol HaDor of the non-Hasidic Lithuanian Haredi Jewish world.
Ezor Eliyahu - Rav Eliyahu Lerman (Lehran) of Vysokie (Viskot) (c. 1805–1875), son of Rav Avraham Yozfa Lerman of Konskowola, founder of the Viskot-Krushnovitz Chassidut. Disciple of the Kotzker Rebbe and Rav Nochum of Chernobyl. Served as Rav in Pilov and later in Vysokie, where he established his Beit Midrash. Authored Divrei Eliyahu (responsa) and Ezor Eliyahu (Warsaw, 1885), works reflecting his sharp halachic and Chassidic insights.
Arizal - Ari HaKadosh, Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-1572), Yerushalayim, Egypt, Tzefat; Considered the forefather of modern Kabbalah.
Rav Chaim Vital - (1542-1620), Tzvat, Israel; foremost disciple of Rav Isaac Luria – The Arizal. As a young boy, was educated by the Alsheich HaKadosh, at the request of R’ Yoseph Karo. Arrived in Egypt in 1577, but soon returned, settling in the village of Ein Zeitim (near Tzefat) and later in Jerusalem. Later went to live in Damascus, where he became the head of the Sicilian Jewish community and began writing his first works before returning to Tzefat. Also authored Shaar HaGilgulim, a kabbalistic work on reincarnation, which became one of the Shemonah She’arim.
Ze’ev Yitraf - R’ Zev Hoberman (1930-2012), Lakewood, NJ; One of the distinguished early talmidim of Rav Aharon Kotler, and student of Rav Hutner. Grew up in Baltimore and attended the Talmudical Academy of Baltimore. Served as a R”M and Rebbe at the Yeshiva of Eastern Parkway, Yeshiva of Philadelphia, the Staten Island Yeshiva and Yeshivas Itri, and was the author of sefer Ze’ev Yitraf and other chiddushei Torah.
Zera Bareich - Rabbi Berachya Barech bar Yitzhak Isaac Shapira of Krakow (1608-c.1666). Student of R’ Natan Spira, author of the Megaleh Amukot.
Maharsha - R’ Shmuel Eidels (1555-1631), Poland. Wrote commentary on the Talmud, named Chiddushei Halachot, and commentary on the aggadot of the Talmud, named Chiddushei Aggadot. Married the daughter of Edel Lifschitz of Posen and the late Brisker Rav. His mother-in-law supported his Yeshiva for over 2 decades, and in appreciation he adopted her name. Also served as rav in Chelm, Lublin, Tiktin and Ostroh.
Siftei Chachamim - R’ Shabbetai ben Yoseph Bass (1641-1718), Poland, Prague, Germany, Amsterdam; A commentary on Rashi’s commentary on Chumash. Mostly a collection of other commentaries, in addition to the author’s own insight meant to give a basic understanding of Rashi.
Taama de'Kra - Rav Chaim Kanievsky (1928-2022), Bnei Brak, Israel. A leading authority in Haredi Jewish society on legal and ethical practice, known as "Gadol HaDor" and "Sar / Prince of Torah". Born in Pinsk (Poland/Belarus) to R’ Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, known as the "Steipler Gaon", and Miriam Karelitz, sister of the Chazon Ish. Moved to Mandatory Palestine at age 6, never again leaving the country. While a talmid at the Lomza Yeshiva, served in the Israel Defense Forces, guarding an outpost overlooking Jaffa. Married to Batsheva, daughter of Rav Yosef Sholom Eliashiv, and brother of Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein.
Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky - (1863–1940); Av Beit Din, posek, and Talmudic scholar in Vilnius, Lithuania in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for over 55 years. At the age of 15, he began studying at the Volozhin yeshiva and was accepted into R' Chaim Soloveitchik's shiur. Played an instrumental role in preserving Lithuanian yeshivas during the Communist era, and Polish and Russian yeshivas of Poland and during the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, when he arranged for these yeshivas to relocate to Lithuanian cities.
Rav Nosson Meir Wachtfogel - (1910-1998), Lithuania, Lakewood, NJ; Known as the Lakewood Mashgiach, long-time mashgiach ruchani of Beth Medrash Govoha (the Lakewood Yeshiva). Helped establish branches of the Lakewood Yeshiva in dozens of cities, and pioneered the community kollel concept with the opening of combination Torah learning/outreach centers in the United States and other countries. Studied in the Kelm Talmud Torah as a youth, and in early 1920s, his father accepted a rabbinical post in Montreal, Canada while Nosson Meir remained in Kuhl to complete his mesivta program. At age 15 he rejoined his parents in Canada and then went to learn at Yeshiva University’s Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan in New York. At age 17, he enrolled at the Mir yeshiva in the town of Mir, Belarus, where he remained for seven years, influenced by R’ Yeruchom Levovitz and R’ Chatzkel Levenstein.
Chafetz Chaim - R’ Yisrael Meir ha-Kohen Kagan (1838-1933), known popularly as the Chofetz Chaim, after his book on lashon hara, who was also well known for the Mishna Berurah, his book on ritual law, was an influential Lithuanian Jewish rabbi, Halakhist, posek, and ethicist whose works continue to be widely influential in Orthodox Jewish life.
