Rabbi Isaac ben Eliahu Margolis (Margalit)

Jewish Encyclopedia article

Russo-Polish rabbi and author; born in Kalvariya, government of Suwalki, Russian Poland, 1842; died in New York Aug. 1, 1887; son of the rabbi of Wizhajny, and a descendant of Yom-Ṭob Lipmann Heller of Prague.

His youth was devoted to the study of the Talmud; and in 1862 he settled in Meretz, government of Wilna, where later on he embarked in business. The zealots of that city and business reverses rendered his life there unpleasant; and in consequence he removed to Kovno, where he soon found employment as tutor in the house of Ezekiel Jaffe. Later he became rabbi of Druskeniki (Druskininkai), government of Grodno. In 1884 he emigrated to the United States and became rabbi of the Congregation Anshe-Kalvariya, New York.

Margolis was the author of "Ma'oz ha-Talmud" (Warsaw, 1868), an apologetic work in defense of the Talmud and the Shulḥan 'Aruk against certain critics; "Ma'oz ha-Yam" (Wilna, 1870), a reply to the attacks of M. L. Lilienblum in "Megillah 'Afah"; and "Sippure Yeshurun" (Berlin, 1876), a collection of Talmudic and Midrashic legends, anecdotes, etc., written in an elegant Hebrew style. He also contributed largely to the Hebrew periodicals "Ha-Maggid," "Ha-Ẓefirah," and "Ha-Meliẓ."

Bibliography:

• H. Herzmann, in Ha-Asif, iv.;
• M. Caplan, in Ha-Ẓefirah, No. 168;
• American Hebrew, Aug. 22, 1887, p. 8.

"Rabbi Issac Margolis"

MARGOLIES, ISAAC BEN ELIJAH (1842–1887), Polish rabbi and author. Born in Kalvarija, S.W. Lithuania, the son of a rabbi, Margolies devoted himself in his early youth solely to talmudic studies. After his marriage in 1862 to the daughter of a prominent member of the community of Merech in Vilna province, he took up residence there and began to take a keen interest in the Haskalah.

(According to our records, he married Hinde Bernstein, his first cousin but this may not be a contradiction.)

Source: Translation of “Druskieniki” chapter from Pinkas Hakehillot Polin

"The first Jews settled in Druskininkai during the middle of the 19th century when it was a spa and vacation town. They earned their livelihoods as small merchants, various crafts and working in the clinic which had been developed by Jewish businessmen and doctors with contributions from Jewish backers Dunenburg, Ginzburg and Fridland. The clinic's first director was Dr. Shmuel Moshe Broda. Communities throughout Lithuania and Belarus sent their infirm to the Jewish clinic in Druskininkai, and the poor who could not pay for the high cost of their treatments were subsidized by wealthy members of their communities or the Aide Committee. In 1887 the clinic advertised in “Hatzfira” a notice to Israeli communities that could not accept poor without assistance from their communities."
In the 1880s the Jews of Druskininkai organized themselves into a community, blessed a cemetery and two religious schools. Rabbi Yitzhak Margeliot, author of “Maoz Hatalmud”, “Maoz Hayam” and other books, served as rabbi until 1884; he died in 1887 in the United States. Following him was Rabbi Shmariahu Yitzhak Bloch who emigrated to England in 1888. In his place was chosen Rabbi Shlomo son of rabbi Yaakov Gordon who wrote “Binyan Shlomo” and “Zichron Yaakov” and continued to serve even in the beginning of the 20th century."