Article:1.6.5

The Kabbalah in Galicia in the Early Modern Period

     The Kabbalah in Galicia in the Early Modern Period

Roee Goldschmidt

       Topics
       Religion, Rabbinate, Hasidism

       Period
       Before 17721772-1914

       Region
       Galicia

       NLI Code
       997013604473405173

Extensions

• Rabbi Natan Note ben Shelomoh Shapira

Related Personalities

• Person:Isserles
• Person:MargaliotMM
• Person:Poppers
• Person:ShohamM
• Person:Sirkis
• Person:OstererM
• Person:MosheKitover

Related Entries

• Article:1.6.6

The Kabbalah in Galicia in the Early Modern Period

Roee Goldschmidt

The 16^th and 17^th Centuries: The First Appearance of Kabbalah in the

Galicia Region

[|Kabbalah] is a Jewish mystical thought system that developed, apparently, beginning in the 12^th century, first in Provence and later in Spain, and became a significant factor in Jewish culture generally, and in particular in the large Jewish population center that developed in Poland-Lithuania. Various approaches and streams developed among the Spanish Kabbalists, generating a voluminous and diverse literature during the Middle Ages, which spread throughout the German-speaking lands, Italy, and in Jewish communities throughout the Mediterranean basin. This literature reached Poland in manuscript form and printed books, and fulfilled a central role in shaping the worldview and philosophy of Eastern European Jewry.

In the 16^th century, kabbalistic activity became widespread, both as a genre of elitist creativity and as a popular phenomenon, including in Poland. Rabbi Mosheh Isserles, Rema (d. 1572), the rabbi of Kraków and its environs, and among the most important figures in the development of Jewish law, drew on kabbalistic sources throughout his book Torat Ha-‘Olah (Prague 1569). Rema begins his book with an apology of sorts for engaging with matters of Kabbalah and explicating them in public settings, expressing indignation over the fact that the study of Kabbalah has become unregulated and that many who are not worthy of it have been engaging in its study: “And many of the masses of the people – everyone is pouncing on the study of Kabbalah because it is a feast for the eyes.” The reason for this, he explains, is the printing of books of Kabbalah and their relative widespread diffusion, which led to the fact that even laymen of the community, who were not capable of studying the weekly Torah portion with Rashi’s commentary, were sitting down and expounding matters of Kabbalah in public. Indeed, at this time numerous books of Kabbalah were being printed in Italy, and later on also in the printing press of Yitsḥaḳ of Prossnitz (Prostějov) in Kraków. These print editions made a range of kabbalistic literature accessible to the learning public.

Rema’s discussions in his Torat Ha-ʻOlah and in his commentaries on the Zohar, the central work of Kabbalah, demonstrate that he was in possession of print versions of Kabbalah literature, particularly works authored by the generation of the Spanish exiles. It is also apparent that the Zohar formed part of the study curriculum in his yeshiva. Yet, it is also clear that he did not have manuscript works nor an inherited tradition of regular, regimented study of Kabbalah, and that he himself did not significantly innovate in the field of Kabbalah. In his writings, Rema adopts an approach evidenced in writings of an earlier age, one that sought to bridge the differences between kabbalistic and philosophical sources, such as Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed. This approach is also apparent in the writings of other rabbis in Poland who engaged with the Kabbalah, both in his generation and in the previous one. We have little knowledge about these rabbinic figures and their study of Kabbalah. Thus, for example, Rema mentions the kabbalist Rabbi Asher, who lived in Kraków in the previous generation and was the brother-in-law of Rabbi [|Yaʻaḳov Polak] (ca. 1460-1541), the founding father of Polish yeshivas. This same Asher composed a kabbalistic book titled Emeḳ ha-berakha, which is mentioned in a few places in the literature of that generation. This work was never printed and seems not to have survived.

       Another well-known Kabbalist of this era is Rabbi Matityah Delakrut (before 1530 – ca. 1592), who was born and raised in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and who migrated in 1550 to Italy to study at the University of Bologna. He authored a commentary on the Kabbalist book of the Spanish Kabbalist Rabbi Yosef Jikatila (1248 – after 1305), titled Shaʻarei Ora, which was printed in 1600 in Kraków by Yitsḥak of Prossnitz, and in four more editions in Zhovkva between the years 1739 and 1804.

Delaḳrut’s famous book Tsel Ha-ʻOlam was first printed in Amsterdam in 1733 and later also in Galicia (Lviv, ca. 1835) and Bukovina (Chernivtsi,1867). Delaḳrut, like his contemporary Rema, sought to integrate philosophy, science, and Kabbalah.

       Although Rema notes that Kabbalah was becoming widespread and many were engaged in its study, it is still difficult to identify in the writings of that age a particular style of Kabbalah study, whether in Kraków or in other locations in the Eastern European sphere. Oral and written traditions started to enter the region from Italy and North Africa and began to be absorbed in the burgeoning world of Torah study in Poland.

       The widespread interest in Kabbalah in Rema’s age, and among his disciples and their students, engendered more original creativity in subsequent generations. The study style and modes of thought in the Polish study halls, which emphasized Talmudic pilpul (intricate disputation, casuistic hairsplitting0, also made a mark on the study of Kabbalah. The lively textual criticism, alongside the pilpulistic creativity that innovatively brought together diverse sources, was also a feature of kabbalistic literary creativity.

       Thus, in the regions of the future Galicia, engagement with Kabbalah expanded in the fields of commentary, annotations of kabbalistic texts, organization of kabbalistic knowledge in anthologies and abridged editions, and through its dissemination and cultural embedding in guidance for daily conduct in light of kabbalistic practice and kabbalistic ethical literature.

The Writing Style

Kabbalistic writing in Eastern Europe was characterized by diverse writing styles. Exegetical works about various branches of kabbalistic literature can already be found in Rema’s generation, in the commentary by Delakrut on Sha‘arei Ora (fig.1) and in the accompanying gloss Levushei Or Yekarot (Lublin 1595) by Rabbi Mordekhai Yaffe (1530–1612), and in the following generation, in the work Manoaḥ Matsa Ḥen (Prague 1612) by Rabbi Manoaḥ Hendel ben Shemaryah (ca. 1540 – 1611), an explanatory treatise on the mystical approach to Torah exegesis of the Spanish Rabbi Baḥya ben Asher Ibn Halawa (1255-1340).

Some of the literature deals with in-depth textual criticism, comparing various versions of kabbalistic works that were before the authors. Different works of Kabbalah, the book of the Zohar in particular, were first copied by hand, and entered the print era in multiple versions. Eastern European Kabbalists labored to compare the versions in order to determine which was most accurate. In 1603, a work titled Zohar Ḥadash [New Zohar] was printed in Kraków. The book had been printed previously in Thessaloniki in 1597, but the Kraków version included corrections by Rabbi Mosheh Mordekhai Margaliot (1550?-1616), head of Kraków’s rabbinical court, who also added a new introduction. The most outstanding example is the book Ḥibur ʻAmudei Sheva (Kraków, 1635), composed by Rabbi Aharon Zelig ben Mosheh of Zhovkva (d. 1643) (fig.2), which presented the first rigorous text-criticism of the Zohar published in Cremona, Italy in 1558.

        The same phenomenon is witnessed in the Kabbalist homilies attributed to the Ari –Rabbi Yitsḥaḳ Luria (1534-1572), the greatest of the Safed Kabbalists in the 16th century – which existed in a range of versions. Rabbi Meir Poppers (1624-1662), a native of Kraków, edited Luria’s homilies while attempting to differentiate between stages of their oral delivery and written record. Another later example is the book Saraf peri ‘ets ḥayim (Czernowitz, 1866) by Rabbi Mosheh Shoham (ca. 1730-ca. 1820) – who officiated as the head of the rabbinical court and rabbi of the city of Dolyna and was one of the disciples of the [|Ba’al Shem Tov] (ca. 1700-1760). In this book, Shoham undertakes an analysis of the text and content of the Lurianic kavanot (lit. “intentions,” referring to devotional prayer and ritual texts) literature, on the basis of a broad range of print and manuscripts sources, while attempting to decide among different versions of the kavanot and sometimes writing his own novel kabbalistic kavanot. (fig.3)

The Influence of Talmudic Pilpul

The style of Talmud study known as pilpul, which was popular and prestigious, exercised a crucial influence on all literary creation in this cultural zone, including the field of Kabbalah. This style brings together diverse sources and ideas by asking various questions about the text, and weaves them together in innovative and creative ways. The product of this mode of textual study is a new and complex creation, one that attempts to draw connections between different textual sources and ideas, sometimes artificially, so that two sources complement and illuminate each other, and through their interaction present an innovative exegetical, ethical, or philosophical idea. Pilpul-styled homilies in Eastern Europe often employ rhetorical and aesthetic structures that aim to impress with their artistry.

Among the most influential works in this style, one can count those of Rabbi Natan Note Shapira (1585-1633), who served as rabbi, head of Yeshivah, and preacher in Kraków: Megaleh ʻAmuḳot (Kraków, 1637) and Megaleh ʻAmuḳot ʻal ha-Torah (Lviv, 1795).

        Kabbalistic literature is often cited in the homiletic literature, and kabbalistic ideas were used by darshanim (preachers) throughout the period. The darshanim, whose intended audience was the most educated sector of the population, integrated features of Talmudic pilpul with discussions of kabbalistic sources and ideas in their homilies. This phenomenon was so widespread that even Rabbi Berakhyah Berakh (d. 1666), a rabbinical judge from Kraków, criticized darshanim who were citing kabbalistic ideas in their sermons, yet he included long excerpts of the Zohar in his own homilies that were published his book Zera Berakh (Kraków, 1646). A similar phenomenon can be seen in the Bar Mitzvah sermon delivered by Rabbi Abraham Rapaport of Lviv (1584-1651) and printed under the title Neḳi Kapayim u-Var Mitsvah (Kraków, 1598). The sermon is comprised of an artfully constructed homiletic pilpul that includes thirteen questions, in which the Bar Mitzvah boy demonstrates his knowledge of Talmud and Bible and his skill at reworking the content into a new creation, ending with a discussion of a section of the Zohar.

Entry into Halakhic Discourse

Throughout the 16^th and 17^th centuries, Kabbalah literature became a central factor that shaped the thinking style of Eastern-European Jews and helped form their historical outlook. This process manifested itself in homiletic rhetoric, customs, and even in halakhic discourse. An example can be seen in the way Rabbi [|Shelomoh Luria, Maharshal] (1510-1573), a contemporary of Rema, inveighed against those who sought to adopt kabbalistic customs in the donning of phylacteries (tefillin):

“You should know, my beloved friend, that recent upstarts have arrived, and they want to join the Kabbalist sect, and be among the interpreters of mysteries, who, feeble-sighted, see not the light of the Zohar, and know neither its beginning nor end, nor its intent, but for having found something in the writings of Rashbi [=Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai, credited as author of Zohar] […] and if Rashbi were to stand before us screaming that we alter the custom practiced by predecessors, we would pay him no regard.”

A generation later, Rabbi Yoel Sirkis (1561-1640) officiated as the rabbi of several communities, including Belz, and from 1619 until his death in the city of Kraków. Regarding a person in Amsterdam who “directs his speech against the wisdom of Kabbalah, and makes a mockery of the truth of its wisdom, slandering it and saying it counts for naught in his eyes,” and who further persuades decent people to support his views, Sirkis wrote the following:

One who mocks the words of the sages or speaks slanderously about the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is the source of the Torah and its very core, and is entirely [concerned] with awe of God, it goes without saying that [such a person] is liable for excommunication, for there is no one more liable for excommunication than one who thus demeans the Torah’s words … And since he casts behind his back the wisdom of Kabbalah and the words of our rabbis the Kabbalists of blessed memory, he should be treated even more harshly, to ban him with all the severe strictures pertaining to a ban, using all that the mouth is capable of uttering.

In his halakhic writings, at any rate, Sirkis occasionally mentioned that the Kabbalah does not have the authority to overturn a law that appears in the Talmud. Thus, for example, during his time in Kraków he wrote: “We do not act according to the Kabbalah in any matter that contradicts the law.”

Based on the critiques and reservations expressed by Luria, Sirkis, and others, we learn that Kabbalah had made an entry into the halakhic discourse among Jews in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

There are various reports about groups of scholars in the 16^th and 17^th centuries in Poland and in Lithuania, who gathered together for the general study of Kabbalah, with a particular focus on the Zohar. These study circles developed their own special regulations and behavioral codes which obligated the associates of the circle. Thus, for example, the Kabbalist circle led by Sirkis in Kraków at the turn of the century 17^th century accepted the obligation to observe the commandment “Love your neighbor like yourself” (Lev. 19: 18), in accordance with the writings of the disciples of Rabbi Yitsḥaḳ Luria. One of Sirkis’ disciples in Kraków, Rabbi Menaḥem Mendel Auerbach (1620-1689), formulated the following rules as part of the daily morning routine:

And one must assume the obligation of performing the positive commandment: “Love your neighbor like yourself”, for by so doing, his prayer will integrate [elements] of all of Israel, and [this pertains] in particular to the love among peers, and every person should include himself, for he is one of the peers among the group of peers.

The Transmission of Traditions

The diverse kabbalistic literature that was available to the Kabbalists in Eastern Europe enabled them to create unique combinations that brought together the kabbalistic traditions arriving from Spain, Italy, the Balkans and the Greek islands, and later also from the Land of Israel, with the hermetic traditions deriving from the circle of German Pietists (Ḥasidei Ashkenaz) that was active in Western Europe in the 12^th and 13^th centuries.

During the first half of the 17^th century, writings and traditions from the Lurianic school began to arrive in Europe. Eastern European Kabbalists who had immigrated to the Land of Israel studied Lurianic Kabbalah and transmitted various traditions, whether by copying manuscripts or incorporating diverse ideas in their own literary oeuvre.

The most famous of these was Rabbi Meir Poppers. Poppers edited the three most popular anthologies of Rabbi Yitsḥaḳ Luria’s homilies: ‘Ets Ḥayim, Pri ‘Ets Ḥayim, and Nof ‘Ets Ḥayim (fig.4). The network of relationships between the kabbalists in Poland and the Kabbalist centers in Italy, such as the Beit Midrash of Rabbi Menahem Azaria da Fano (1548-1620), also facilitated the transmission of the other traditions and re-workings of Lurianic Kabbalah. Indeed, unlike what occurred in other regions to which Lurianic Kabbalah had spread, in Poland, even after the arrival of Lurianic Kabbalah, the alternate traditions remained in place – for instance, that of Sefer ha-Temunah, an anonymous kabbalistic work from the 13th or 14th centuries – and continued to enrich kabbalistic creativity with the infusion of their ideas.

As noted, Rema had attributed the spread of Kabbalah in his own age to the printing of kabbalistic works. Indeed, the development of printing in northern Italy during the late 15^th and throughout the 16^th century led to the printing and distribution of many works of Kabbalah, and a similar process took place in the printing houses that were established in Kraków, and later in Lublin. Throughout the second half of the 16^th century and the beginning of the 17^th century, these printing houses facilitated access to foundational texts, in particular abridged kabbalistic works, as well as to the diverse and extensive kabbalistic literature overall.

Art and Architecture

Kabbalistic literature also left its mark on Eastern European Jewish culture in the art and architecture of synagogues. The general architectural and interior design of Polish synagogues, and in the regions of the future Galicia, was rooted in Ashkenazi Jewish art traditions from the Rhineland, which had been imported from that region by Jewish migrants to Eastern Europe in the 15^th and 16^th centuries. Over the years, this design underwent refinements and elaboration, while the local spiritual and material culture that evolved in Eastern Europe – of which kabbalistic literature was one component – also impacted the design of synagogues.

The design of many synagogues in the region adhered to architectural guidelines and ideas stemming from kabbalistic literature in general, and from the Zohar in particular. Some of those guidelines can be ascribed to Kabbalah seeping into halakhic literature, as described above. Thus, for example, the idea of installing twelve windows in a synagogue, as customary in many synagogues in Poland, is mentioned in the halakhic work Beit Yosef by Rabbi Yosef Karo (1488-1575), where it is attributed to the Zohar:

And as for the number of windows that a synagogue should have, this was not explicitly indicated in the Talmud nor in the words of the decisors, but in the book of the Zohar [he] wrote … that there should be twelve windows in it, for a reason that is a hidden secret.

However, the textual source for other features, such as the internal division of each window into fifty panes of glass, can be found directly in the Zohar. This type of division is found in the windows of the wooden synagogues in the towns of Hvizdets and Khodoriv in Eastern Galicia. In these synagogues, six steps were built leading to the central platform (bima), and similarly to the Holy Ark, according to guidelines outlined in the Zohar, which compare the biblical description of Solomon’s throne with the divine throne of glory. In addition, the mural in these synagogues display motifs that originate in the Zohar, such as the deer turning its face backwards (fig.5). However, the most outstanding example is that of the ostrich gazing at her eggs (fig.6). This image appears in a number of kabbalistic works, such as Sefer Ḥaredim by Rabbi Elʻazar Azikri of Safed (1533-1600), and in the Lurianic kabbalistic work by Rabbi Ḥayim Vital ‘Ets Ḥayim, as well as in the popular ethical work, Kav Ha-Yashar by Rabbi Tzevi Hirsh Koidanover (1645/6? -1712).

In these synagogues, the Temple menorah (candelabra) was drawn according to a uniform artistic composition, and along the branches of the menorah were written the words of Psalm 67, as familiar from the kabbalistic literature since the 14^th century.

Regimen (Hanhagot), Ethics (Musar), and Abridged Books

The dissemination of kabbalistic teachings among wider strata of the Jewish public was made possible by the printing of kabbalistic ethics treatises, abridged works and kabbalistic anthologies that made accessible to the public at large – including those with only a limited mastery of Kabbalah – works where they could find ethical ideas, customs, and practices, as well as themes for sermons. This type of literature was printed in Hebrew printing houses in Europe, including Kraków. For example, the kabbalistic book Reshit Ḥokhmah by the Kabbalist Rabbi from the Land of Israel Eliyahu de-Vidas (d.ca. 1579-1585), which was printed in full in Kraków in 1593-1594, appeared in a popular, abridged version, titled Totsa’ot Ḥayim, circa 1600.

In addition to providing access to ethical ideas, printed works were intended to disseminate kabbalistic customs that followed the Zohar, such as the book by Rabbi Issachar Ber Katz of Szczebrzeszyn (d. ca. 1590), Mar’eh Kohen (Kraków, 1589).

       There were also books that helped preachers and the learned public gain a grasp of various topics stemming from the broader kabbalistic literature, such as Yalḳut Ḥadash (Lublin, 1648), which was authored by Rabbi Israel ben Binyamin of Belżec.

The 18^th Century: The Printing Press in Zhovkva

The 17^th century, which was characterized by insecurity and economic instability throughout Poland generally and in Galicia specifically, witnessed a significant decline in the overall scale and scope of printing, and in the publishing of kabbalistic literature in particular. However, in the 18^th century, especially in its second half, there was a wave of printing of kabbalistic books in Zhovkva. Already in 1691, there was a printing press in the city, which had been established with the encouragement of the Polish king Jan III Sobieski. This publishing house turned Zhovkva into one of the most important Hebrew printing centers in Eastern Europe. This printing house published diverse works from the kabbalistic corpus, including scholarly works written from all over Eastern Europe, and from Galicia specifically, such as the book Ḳaran ‘Or (1751) written by Rabbi Moshe Katz of Przemyśl, which was based on the literature stemming from the circle of Sefer Ha-Temunah (fig.7).

In addition, it printed literature based on Lurianic Kabbalah and the Kabbalah of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, such as ‘Arugat ha-Bosem (1745), by Rabbi Mosheh ben Hillel Osterer (before 1715 - 1784), a native of Zamość and one of the most important scholars of Brody’s famous kloiz, as well as Sefer Ḳarnayim (1709) by Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropolye. The Zhovkva press also printed works of medieval Kabbalah such as Sefer Yetsirah, Zohar, Tiḳunei Zohar, Zohar Ḥadash, Maʻarekhet ha-Elohut, Shoshan Sodot, the Lurianic Sefer Ha-Gilgulim, Ḥemdat Yamim, ‘Asara Ma’amarot by Rabbi Menahem Azaria da Fano, and more. Some of these books were first published in Zhovkva.

In addition, the Zhovkva press printed kabbalistic ethics books, homiletic literature, and literature dealing with practical Kabbalah, charms, healing rites, adjurations of angels, and more. Books of this kind came out in several editions.

This surge in printing activity attests to the increasing demand for all varieties of kabbalistic literature among widening circles of people. The flourishing of the Hebrew printing press – generally, and of Kabbalah books in particular – spread to other cities in Eastern Europe. Like the publishing house in Zhovkva, the printing press established in Oleksynets in Volhynia provided a considerable number of books of Kabbalah. In 1778, this printing operation moved to the city of Korets, also in Volhynia. By 1819, this publishing house had printed more than one hundred kabbalistic books.

This scale of printing brought a very wide variety of Kabbalah books to the learning public, who positioned this branch of Jewish thought at the center of Jewish life in Galicia and in Eastern Europe generally over the course of the 19th century (fig.8).

Kabbalistic Societies (havurot)

Throughout the 18^th century in Eastern Europe, an increasing number of havurot [associations, societies] of pietist Kabbalists appeared. These havurot maintained a rigorous and ascetic way of life. This way of life was guided by the mystical literature of the Medieval German Jewish Pietists, and its re-workings in the literature of Lurianic Kabbalah. This literature deals with people’s self-betterment throughout the course of their lives, the erection of “fences” and other halakhic stringencies to prevent sin. Past sins were to be corrected by means of equivalent penitence (teshuvat ha-mishkal) – in other words, undertaking penance in a measure corresponding to the pleasure that was derived from the sin, a ritual designed to guarantee absolution.

These intimate societies also influenced the broader public that consumed the ethical kabbalistic literature. The contemporary responsa literature indicates how different people turned to rabbinic figures for guidance, requesting tikkunim – rites of repair to absolve their sins. At the heart of this social phenomenon, there were cohorts of kabbalists that in the contemporary literature are called “servants of God,” or “righteous” [hasidim].

These havurot were particularly scrupulous about lengthening their prayers, praying with devout intention (kavana), purity of thought, mystical cleaving (devekut), and various halakhic stringencies – especially with regard to slaughter and the dietary laws of kashrut. These behaviors earned the admiration of the masses for those holy people who adhered to these practices, and in some cases the kabbalists were even funded by well-to-do philanthropists who set up houses of study (batei midrash) and kloizes for them. Notwithstanding, these havurot were also a source of friction within the community when their stringencies threatened communal life by setting too high a bar for religious conduct.

A famous kloiz operated in Brody, with a cohort of kabbalists gathered around Rabbi Moshe of Kitov (d. 1738). Rabbi [|Ba’al Shem Tov]– the Besht (ca. 1700 – 1760) – was active within the social circles of such societies of learners and kabbalists. At a later stage, members of the Besht’s circle, his disciples and their students brought about the emergence of the Hasidic movement.

Select Bibliography

Elbaum, Jacob. Openness and Insularity: Late Sixteenth Century Jewish Literature in Poland and Ashkenaz. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1990 [in Hebrew].

Elbaum, Jacob. Repentance and Self-Flagellation in the Writings of the Sages of Germany and Poland 1348-1648. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1992 [in Hebrew].

Goldschmidt, Roee. “The Study of Lurianic Kabbalah in the Circle of the Baal Shem Tov – R. Moses Shoham of Dolina’s Seraf Peri Es Hayyim.” Kabbalah 29 (2013), 209-286 [in Hebrew].

Goldschmidt, Roee. “Talmudic Study Methods and Kabbalistic Literary Creativity in Eastern-European Kabbalah,” Kabbalah 45 (2019), 245-274 [in Hebrew].

Goldschmidt, Roee. “From Byzantium to Eastern Europe: The Textual Versions of Sefer ha-Temunah and Their Circulation in Manuscript and Print.” Kabbalah 46 (2020), 287-316 [in Hebrew].

Gondos, Andrea. Kabbalah in Print: The Study and Popularization of Jewish Mysticism in Early Modernity. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2020.

Gries, Zeev. The Hebrew Book: An Outline of its History. Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 2015 [in Hebrew].

Hubka, Thomas C. Resplendent Synagogue: Architecture and Worship in an Eighteenth-Century Polish Community. Waltham MA: Brandeis University Press, 2003

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Paluch, Agata. Megalleh ‘Amuqot: The Enoch-Metatron Tradition in the Kabbalah of Nathan Neta Shapira of Kraków (1585-1633). Los Angeles: Cherub Press, 2014.

Reiner, Elhanan. “Wealth, Social Position and the Study of Torah: The Status of the Kloiz in Eastern European Jewish Society in the Early Modern Period” Zion 58 (1993), 287-328 [in Hebrew].

Reiner, Elhanan. “Yashan mi-penei ḥadash: ‘al temurot be-tokhnei limud be-yeshivot Polin ba-me’ah ha-16 ve-yeshivato shel ha-Rema be-Ḳraḳov,” Zekhor davar le-‘avdekha: Essays and studies in memory of Dov Rappel, edited by Shmuel Glick. Jerusalem: Lifshitz College of Education, 2007, 183-206.