Isserles, Moses ben Israel

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Isserles, Moses ben Israel or Rema (c.1530–72). Jewish legal authority. Isserles was one of the great halakhic authorities of the time. He founded a yeshivah and gained a worldwide reputation for his responsa, being known as ‘the Maimonides of Polish Jewry’. Although he aroused opposition for his emphasis on custom (minhag) and his leniency (particularly when financial loss was involved), his rulings have become accepted as binding on Ashkenazi Jews.

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