KAGAN, YISROEL MEIR OF RADIN (CHOFETZ CHAIM).

Radin

21 Shevat,1931

NOT USED KEP FOR REFERNCE: R. Israel Meir Kagan (1838-1933) was universally acclaimed as the preeminent Halachic decisor and “tzaddik” of the generation. He is referred today as the “Chafetz Chaim” (“Seeker of Life”), after the title of his guide to the laws pertaining to “lashon ha-ra” or malicious gossip. (The title derives from the verse in Psalms 34:13.) His reputation as Halachist par excellence rests on his work “Mishnah Berurah,” a running comentary to Shulchan Aruch, Section Orach Chaim, which addresses the daily routine of the Jew, as well as laws of Sabbath and Festivals. So widely was the work embraced, that even some Chassidim - namely adherents of the Polish school of Gur - favored the rulings of the Mishnah Berurah over those of the earlier Shulchan Aruch Ha-Rav by the Chassidic master R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi. Rabbi M.M. Yoshor authored biographies of the “Chafetz Chaim” in three languages: English, Hebrew and Yiddish. See EJ, Vol. IX, cols. 1068-1070; Leo Jung ed., Jewish Leaders (1964), pp. 457-473