Brith Mateh Moshe. With commentary by Moshe b. Isaiah of Wengrow and Vilna

An extensive pilpulistic commentary to the Hagadah. Rabbi J.J. Halberstamm, the late Grand Rabbi of Klausenberg was often wont to refer to this Hagadah and saw to it that it was reissued in order that "youth will appreciate the complete Talmudic mastery and acuity of the sages of the 18th century." (Silberman edition, Brooklyn, 1980). The composer of the Brith Mateh Moshe often digresses to bemoan improper social behaviors of his time: (he expresses shock at the satiric parody Masechet Purim); he criticizes women who insistently harangue their husbands, resulting in children absorbing a disdainful atmosphere. He also chides women for their maltreatment of those in their domestic service. Throughout, the author reproves and castigates those "who cause many of the social ills of (the) time, a result of a haughty bearing and slothfulness over ethical behavior." R. Moshe, a disciple of Rabbis Moshe of Horodna and Mordecai Ginzburg of Brisk, states he was originally a member of the Chevra Kadisha of Yehudah Chasid. This fact, as well as his interesting, descriptions of the personalities in this fellowship, has escaped the recent notice of scholars. See Z. Shazar (Rubashov), Reshumoth, Vol. II (1927) pp. 461-93; G. Scholem, Beit Yisrael Be-Polin, Vol. II (1949) pp. 36-56; A.Yaari, Shluchei Eretz Yisrael, pp. 322-3; E. Carlebach, Divided Souls (2001) pp. 84-85