Alexander Ziskind ben Moshe Maimon

Alexander Ziskind Maimon (July 18, 1809 - July 12, 1887) was a Jewish author and scholar of the Talmud and Mishnah.

Maimon was born in Seirijai, Lithuania. His commentaries on biblical literature, Mishanah, Talmud and Halacha were publicized from his younger years and throughout his life. He was a writer for "HaMagid" Hebrew newspaper, known by the acronym of his and his father's name - AZBRMM (Alexander Ziskind ben Rabbi Moshe Maimon). His daughter's tombstone refers to him as "Maimon from Seirijai". In 1872 he is mentioned as "Rabbi Ziskind Maimon" in HaMagid in a list of people from Seirijai who donated to the Persian relief effort.

In his later years, Maimon lived in Kelmė and began writing his book "Kovetz Maamariam ve'Inianim Shonim". The book was published by his family in 1894 following his passing, and in it were many reprinted articles and researches he had written. He is regarded to in Berl Kagan's book "Jewish Cities, Towns & Villages in Lithuania" (New York: 1991) as "An author, scholar, philanthropist, and man of affairs."[

Maimon's grandson, Moshe Maimon, was a notable artist.

References

  1. Berl Kagan, in his book "Jewish Cities, Towns & Villages in Lithuania" (New York: 1991), gives his place of birth as Kielce

2. The book was published in 1894, seven years after his death, by his brother, Tzvi-Hirsch, in memory of his other brother, Shaul, who apparently had also died between 1887 and 1894.
3. As reprinted in Landsman, Vol. 2, Nos 2&3 (Double issue- Fall-Winter, 1991-92)

Maimon was born in Seirijai,[1] Lithuania. His commentaries on biblical literature, Mishanah, Talmud and Halacha were publicized from his younger years and throughout his life. He was a writer for "HaMagid" Hebrew newspaper, known by the acronym of his and his father's name - AZBRMM (Alexander Ziskind ben Rabbi Moshe Maimon). His daughter's tombstone refers to him as "Maimon from Seirijai". In 1872 he is mentioned as "Rabbi Ziskind Maimon" in HaMagid in a list of people from Seirijai who donated to the Persian relief effort.

In his later years, Maimon lived in Kelmė and began writing his book "Kovetz Maamariam ve'Inianim Shonim". The book was published by his family in 1894,[2] following his passing, and in it were many reprinted articles and researches he had written. He is regarded to in Berl Kagan's book "Jewish Cities, Towns & Villages in Lithuania" (New York: 1991) as "An author, scholar, philanthropist, and man of affairs."[3]

Maimon's grandson, Moshe Maimon, was a notable artist.

[edit]References

^ Berl Kagan, in his book "Jewish Cities, Towns & Villages in Lithuania" (New York: 1991), gives his place of birth as Kielce

^ The book was published in 1894, seven years after his death, by his brother, Tzvi-Hirsch, in memory of his other brother, Shaul, who apparently had also died between 1887 and 1894.

^ As reprinted in Landsman, Vol. 2, Nos 2&3 (Double issue- Fall-Winter, 1991-92)

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Name: Alexander Ziskind MAIMON

Sex: M

Birth: 18 JUL 1809 in Sereje, Lithuania (Congress Poland) 1 2

Death: 12 JUL 1887 in Kelme, Lithuania, Russia 3

Fact 6: AKA "Alexander Ziskind of Vilna"

Fact 7: A "Maimon from Seirijai" (tombstone of Hinda Miriam)

Reference Number: 220

Note:

Alexander Ziskind Maimon is referred to as a "Maimon from Seirijai" (or Sereje, a small town in S.W. Lithuania) (see town history below) on the tombstone of his daughter, Hinda Miriam Maimon. There is also a reference to a "Rabbi Ziskind Maiman" from Seirijai (Sereje) in the Hamagid Database who donated to the Persian relief effort in 1872.

Berl Kagan, in his book entitled "Jewish Cities, Towns & Villages in Lithuania" (New York: 1991), covering the Jewish Communities of Lejpuny and Sereje, and reprinted in the Landsman, Vol. 2, Nos 2&3 (Double issue- Fall-Winter, 1991-92), records this account:

"Alexander-Ziskind bar Moshe Maimon, born 1809 in Kielce, was an author of a Hebrew book published in Vilna in 1854 by his brothers Shaul and Tzvi-Hirsch. An author, scholar, philanthropist, and man of affairs, he died in 1887."

According to information from Yisrael Dubitsky, the reference librarian at the The Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 3080 Broadway, New York, NY 10027 [ E-mail Reference: library@jtsa.edu ; Tel: (212) 678 8081], Alexander's book was entitled "Kovets Ma'amarim Ve-inyanim Ba-mishnah Ve-talmud" and was published in Vilna in 1894 (not 1854). He was born in Seree (Suvalk province) in 1809 and died in Kelme, Lithuania, on July 12, 1887. This may explain Kagan's reference to his book being published "by his brothers." They may have done it after his death as a memorial to him. Kagan may very well have confused the birth and death locations.

In August 1999, a copy of Ziskind's book was found in the Hebrew University Library in Jerusalem. From the two Forwards to the book, one written by his brother, Tzvi-Hirsch and the other by Alexander himself, we learn that Alexander full name is rendered as "Alexander Ziskind ben Rabbi Moshe Z"L Maimon." The book was published in 1894, seven years after his death, by his brother, Tzvi-Hirsch, in memory of his other brother, Shaul, who apparently had also passed away between 1887 and 1894.

HISTORY OF SEIRIJAI

Seirijai (the current spelling of the town, which also has been called Serhai, Sereje, Seree, Serai and Serhai [the "Sierijai" in the Schoenburgs' "Lithuanian Jewish Communities" appears to be a simple transposition error], two kilometers north of Lake Seirijus, itself crossed by the river Seira, is located in southern Lithuania, where a dialect called Dzukish (from the common replacement of "d" with "dz") is spoken.

The highway south from Kaunas, through Alytus, down to Seirijai is thick with trailers turning west at Seirijai to the Polish border crossing at Lazdijai, in what is the loveliest part of Lithuania, with many unspoiled lakes and streams, and riverbanks deserving of a lunch of bread, cheese and wine. Hundred-year-old wooden farmhouses and fences are not in an ethnographic museum, but in daily use by people who, more than anywhere else in Lithuania, adhere to traditional ways of farming, and celebrating weddings and funerals.

Seirijai's history began in the early 15th century as a royal estate carved out of the Merkine forest, given, in 1523, by King Sigismund the Old to the noble Sapieha family, which passed it on to the Radvilas family (now known as Radziwill, of Kennedy family fame). The first Roman Catholic church was built in 1537, and Evangelical Reformed and Lutheran churches followed in 1584 and 1598. The first synagogue was built in 1726. Princess Louise Caroline Radvilas' marriage to Louis of Brandenburg in 1681 led to the area's autonomous rule (within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) by German princes until 1795. The partitioning of the Commonwealth resulted in Seirijai's incorporation into Prussia until 1807. The division from the rest of Lithuania devastated the town, which lost half its population (2,820 in 1788).

In the early 19th century the area was part of nominally Polish lands within the Russian Empire. The Schoenburgs say that Napoleon's army camped there in 1812, and that a coat he left behind was sewn by local Jews into a parochet for the synagogue's Holy Ark. In the middle of the 19th century

the area was within the Augustavo gubernija, and then the Suvalki gubernija. By 1902 the town's population had recovered to 3,250, which included some 400 Jewish families engaged primarily in trade, fishing the many nearby lakes and rivers, and farming. Owners of large estates included Yosef Grebarsky and Fruma Vezbotsky. A farm machine factory was owned by the Zvilings, and a liquor and beer distillery by Yitzhak-Zvi Slavetitzky and Moshe Finkel.

A serious fire burned half the town in 1912. Land "reforms" and preferential treatment for non-Jewish Lithuanians by independent Lithuania led to increased emigration (to the U.S. Mexico, South Africa and Palestine) and by 1921 the Jewish population was down to 1,050 (out of a total population of 1,884 in 1923), which further eroded to 800 just before the Holocaust. The Jewish population then declined from 800 just before the Holocaust (1940) to 12 in 1945 because of the massacre by Lithuanian shooters on September 10, 1941 (18th Elul 5701). Prominent citizens were present to witness the execution of innocent people. The town's population never recovered: 1,164 in 1959, only 1,095 in 1970. [SOURCE: email posted to LITVAK-SIG by Andrew Kapochunas ( kapochunasa@dnb.com ) ].

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Apr 17 2016, 20:00:55 UTC
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Oct 28 2016, 17:44:03 UTC

Алекса́ндр Зи́скинд Маймо́н (настоящее имя Зи́скинд Мо́вшевич Ма́йман; 18 июля 1809, Сувалкская губерния, Царство Польское — 12 июля 1887, Кельме, Ковенская губерния) ― литовский еврейский талмудист, писатель и общественный деятель.