Rashi - R’ Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040-1105), Troyes, France. "Rabban Shel Yisrael" - The great Rishon who wrote commentary on all areas of Torah.
Kli Yakar - R’ Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz (1550-1619), Chief Rabbi of Prague following the Maharal. His primary work was written after becoming deathly ill and vowing to compose a commentary on the Torah if he survived.
Oznaim LaTorah - R’ Zalman Sorotzkin (1881-1966), Ukraine, Belarus, Yerushalayim; Leader of Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah.
Rashbam - R’ Shmuel ben Meir (c.1085–c.1174), France. Grandson of Rashi and older brother of the Rivam and Rabbeinu Tam. His Torah commentary is concise and strictly to the concept of the "peshat". He does not hesitate to argue with Rashi when he feels that his commentary strayed from the plain meaning of the verse.
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.
Rav Yerucham of Mir - Rav Yerucham Levovitz (1875-1936), Minsk, Belarus, Slobodka, Kelm; Known as "The Mashgiach". A disciple of Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, and Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv of Kelm. R’ Yeruchom was the spiritual leader of the Mir Yeshiva in Belarus until his death in 1936. His disciples were said to have followed his every word, never doing anything that they felt he would not want them to do. Most of the leaders of the yeshivas of inter-war Poland were his disciples.
Beis HaLevi - Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik (1820-1892), Minsk, Brisk, Berlin; Great-grandson of Rav Chaim Volozhin.
Sukas Dovid - Rabbi Dovid Kviat (1920-2009), Poland, Shanghai, Brooklyn; Rosh Yeshiva in the Mirrer Yeshiva in Brooklyn and the Rabbi of the Agudas Yisroel Synagogue of 18th Avenue. One of the last "Alte Mirrer", the title given to those who studied in the Mirrer Yeshiva in Poland, and who survived the hands of the Nazis by fleeing with the entire Yeshiva through Siberia to Kobe, Japan and on to Shanghai, China.
Pardes Yosef - R’ Yosef Patzanovski (1875-1942), Poland; Died in the Lodz ghetto four days after his wife, HY”D.
Ba’al HaTurim - Rabbi Jacob ben Asher (1269-1343), Spain; Composer of Arba’ah Turim, tracing Halacha from the Torah through Talmud and early Poskim. Many commentaries were written on the Tur, including R’ Yosef Karo’s “Beit Yosef” which formed the basis of the Shulchan Arukh.
Taz - R’ David HaLevi Segal (1586-1667), Poland; Polish rabbi, halachic scholar and Talmudic commentator. His best-known work, Turei Zahav, is one of the basic commentaries on the Shulchan Aruch. Son-in-law of the Bach - R. Yoel Sirkes.
Meshech Chochma - Rav Meir Simcha HaKohen of Dvinsk (1843-1926), Lithuania; Prominent leader of Orthodox Judaism in Eastern Europe in the early 20th century. Known for his writings on Rambam’ Mishneh Torah, which he titled Ohr Somayach, as well as his novellae on the Torah, titled Meshech Chochma. He reputedly turned down offers for the rabbinate in various large cities, including Jerusalem, New York City and Kovno, and died in a hotel in Riga, Latvia, while seeking medical treatment.
Zohar - Central work of mystical tradition of Kabbalah. Traditionally attributed to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. First appeared in 13th-century Spain.
Recanati - R’ Menachem ben Binyamin Recanati (1223-1290), Italy. Wrote a Kabalistic commentary on the Torah, a commentary on the siddur, and discussions of the mitzvot. Perush Al haTorah is a work full of mystical deductions, and describing visions and celestial revelations claimed to have been experienced by the author.
