Rav Meir Simcha HaKohen was born in 5605 in Baltermantz. As a youth he was already expert in nearly all of both Talmuds, Shas Bavli and Yerushalmi, as well as in works of Kabbalah. His rebbe, Rav Moshe Danishevsky, was Av Beis Din of Slovak. R’ Meir Simcha married at a young age the daughter of Rav Tzvi Paltiel of Bialystok. While living in Bialystok, he studied Torah day and night with the Av Beis Din, Rav Yom Tov Lipa, author of Shailos V’Teshuvos Oneg Yom Tov, as well as with the author of Shai Lamoreh on Maseches Bechoros.
He lived in sanctity and purity and became a leader of his generation, a great gaon to whom many turned from all over the world to resolve difficult Torah questions and uncertainties. In this merit, he came to be known by the honored title of ilui – genius of Dvinsk.
His magnum opus, the Ohr Sameach on Rambam, demonstrates Rav Meir Simcha’s sharp mind and great Torah expertise. He stood at the forefront of the battle against the misguided maskilim of Russia as well as the Zionists, movements in which he recognized the beginnings of the removal of the primacy of Torah and Yiras Shamayim from the Jewish worldview. He had no sons; his son-in-law, Rav Avraham Loftbar of Warsaw, was the author of Shailos V’Teshuvos Zera Avraham.
Rav Meir Simcha passed away on the Shabbos of Parshas Shoftim, the 4th of Elul, 5686 in Riga, Latvia; he was laid to rest in Dvinsk. May his holy merit protect us all.
