KOLIN (Kelin), SAMUEL BEN NATHAN HA-LEVI

KOLIN (Kelin ), SAMUEL BEN NATHAN HA-LEVI (1720–1806), rabbi and posek. Kolin took his name from his birthplace, Kolin, in Bohemia, where he received his talmudic education, and was considered a child prodigy. After his marriage he settled in Boskovice and his material needs were provided by his wife, who managed a wool business, leaving him free for study. Although he never held an official rabbinic appointment, for over 60 years he conducted a yeshivah which attracted many pupils. Kolin achieved fame through his comprehensive work, Maḥaẓit ha-Shekel, a commentary on the Shulḥan Arukh, Oraḥ Ḥayyim and Yoreh De'ah. The section on Oraḥ Ḥayyim (Vienna, 1807–08) is in fact a supercommentary on the Magen Avraham of A.A. *Gombiner. Its main purpose is to give the actual wording of the sources to which Gombiner alludes, or which he abbreviates, and to simplify his rather difficult language. Only portions of the commentary to the Yoreh De'ah, part 1, and on the laws of niddah were published (1858–60). The Maḥaẓit ha-Shekel achieved wide popularity among scholars who depended on it in arriving at halakhic decisions. It was published separately a number of times, and in later editions together with the text of the Shulḥan Arukh. Kolin's sermons (1906) and his commentaries to Bava Batra and Avodah Zarah (1958) were also published under the same title.

bibliography:

I. Reich, Die Geschichte der Chewra Kadischa zu Boskovice (1931), 41–48; A. Stern, Melitsey Esh al Ḥodshei Adar (1938), 71a–72a; H. Gold (ed.), Die Juden und Judengemeinden Maehrens in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart (1929), index; S. Knoebil, Toledot Gedolei Hora'ah (1970²), 164f.; C. Tchernowitz, Toledot ha-Posekim, 3 (1947), 201–6.