- Joseph Steinhardt
Rabbi Joseph ben Menahem Mendel Steinhardt (ca. 1720–1776) was a German rabbi who lived in his early year in
Schwabach ,Bavaria . His first position asrabbi was as the rabbi ofRixheim , and shortly afterward he was electedchief rabbi ofUpper Alsace . ln 1755 he was chosen chief rabbi ofNieder-Ehenheim inLower Alsace , and eight years later was called as rabbi toFürth , where he officiated until his death.Steinhardt was one of the foremost
Talmudists of his time, and questions were addressed to him fromHungary ,Italy (Verona ), theNetherlands (Amsterdam ), andSwitzerland . He was very pious, and induced the lord of the manor of Nieder-Ehenheim to forbid men and women dancing together. His attitude in his controversy withRabbi Yeshaye Pick regardingEleazar Kalir is also noteworthy, since he maintained that the word "Be-Rabbi" was not a second name, but merely an honorary title of Kalir's, who he claimed was a contemporary ofSaadia .Steinhardt was the author of the following works:
*"Zikron Yosef" (Fürth, 1773), a work in four parts, containingresponsa and decisions modeled on the ritual codices
* "Mashbir Bar" (Prague, 1827), comprising notes on thePentateuch
* "Koaḥ Shor" (ib. 1827), containing novellæ on the treatiseBaba Batra , with notes by his grandson AkibaJewish Encyclopedia bibliography
*
Moritz Steinschneider , Cat. Bodl. col. 1533;
*Eliakim Carmoly , in Revue Orientale, iii. 307;
*Frankel, in Orient, Lit. viii. 246.References
*JewishEncyclopedia
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