HANNELES, JUDAH LEIB BEN MEIR

HANNELES, JUDAH LEIB BEN MEIR (d. 1596), rabbi and author, probably from Posen; known by the initials of his name, as "Maharlaḥ" (M orenu ha-R av L eib Ḥ anneles). Judah, the son of Meir of Tannhauser, was one of nine brothers, among them *Eliakim Goetz b. Meir, a leading scholar of Posen, Jacob *Temerls, and Akiva of Hotzenplatz. He is the author of Va-Yiggash Yehudah, a commentary on the Arba'ah Turim of *Jacob b. Asher, which he explains word by word, noting each halakhic ruling, giving its source and citing the various opinions. In his commentary Judah sought to complete the Beit Yosef of Joseph *Caro; he disagrees with Caro in several instances and also gives more accurate versions of the Arba'ah Turim, of which Caro was not aware. At times he even disagrees with Jacob b. Asher. He began the publication of his work toward the end of his life, and died before it was completed. His brother, Jacob Temerls, continued with the publication of Oraḥ Ḥayyim (Lublin, 1596–99). In the later editions of the Arba'ah Turim, beginning with that of Dyhernfurth (1791–96), a second corrected edition of Va-Yiggash Yehudah on Oraḥ Ḥayyim was published, in which the sources were omitted. Although the Hiddushei ha-Ga'on Leib Hanneles on Oraḥ Ḥayyim printed in the standard text of the Arba'ah Turim have been wrongly ascribed to him (being a selection of glosses from commentators compiled by the brothers Michael Simon and Joseph Maya the sons of the printer, Jehiel Maya), they nevertheless include many selections from Hanneles' work.

bibliography:

Eliakim Goetz ben Meir, Even ha-Shoham u-Me'irat Einayim (Dyhernfurth, 1733), 5 (introd.); Hoffman, in: Magazin fuer juedische Geschichte und Literatur, 1 (1874), 8; H.D. Friedberg, Toledot Mishpahat Shor (1901), 14–15; S. Wiener, Kohelet Moshe, 5 (1904), 549, no. 4512; H. Tchernowitz, Toledot ha-Posekim, 2 (1947), 299–300.