STRASHUN (Zaskovitzer), SAMUEL BEN JOSEPH

STRASHUN (Zaskovitzer ), SAMUEL BEN JOSEPH (1794–1872), Lithuanian merchant and talmudic scholar. Originally called Zaskovitzer, after the place of his birth, Zaskovitz, Strashun adopted the surname of his father-in-law, David Strashun. David Strashun acquired a business in Vilna, and also opened a Klaus named after him. Samuel, relieved by his father-in-law of all material cares, devoted himself to study there. His teacher was R. Abraham *Danzig, who refers to him in his Binat Adam and Ḥokhmat Adam under his original name. Even after his father-in-law's death in 1843, he was able to continue his studies while his wife and brothers ran a department store in Vilna. Strashun was also one of the leaders of the Vilna community. He refused to accept an appointment as rabbi of Suwalki, devoting himself entirely to study and teaching.

Strashun's fame rests upon his extensive annotations and glosses on almost every tractate of the Talmud and of the Mishnah. He followed the example of Elijah Gaon of Vilna, eschewing, as he himself testifies (in a letter to R. Heshel Levin), the method of pilpul, confining himself to giving sources, establishing the correct text, commenting, and giving original interpretations. He dealt with individual words and even letters, often pointing out how a mistake in explaining initials had distorted the text. He did not hesitate to suggest new halakhic rulings, not all of which were accepted. His annotations on the Talmud take up about 100 folio pages. In addition he annotated the Midrash Rabbah, adopting the same method. Strashun's commentary reveals his wide knowledge of Hebrew grammar and his acquaintance with history, geography, and foreign languages. In addition to the above commentaries, which are included in the Romm (Vilna) editions of the Talmud and Midrash, he wrote novellae to Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, to the Shulḥan Arukh Oraḥ Ḥayyim, and to the Sifrei. He also composed glosses to the Ma'aseh Ray, on the customs of Elijah Gaon of Vilna (1887).

Of his children the best known was Mathias *Strashun.

bibliography:

D. Radner, in: Keneset ha-Gedolah, 1 (1890), 3^rd pagination 22–24; Ḥ.N. Maggid-Steinschneider, Ir Vilna (1900), 250; Z. Harkavy and R. Katzenellenbogen, in: S. Strashun, Mekorei ha-Rambam la-Rashash (1956), 53ff.; idem, Le-Ḥeker Mishpaḥot (1953), 44ff.; J.L. Maimon, Middei Ḥodesh be-Ḥodsho, 6 (1960), 109ff.

[Shillem Warhaftig]