December 26, 2023 · 00:06:55
Yahrtzeit Yomi #891!! יב טבת (Sunday) The Pnei Moshe Rav Moshe Margulies רב משה ב״ר שמעון מרגלית פני משה (1715 -1781) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friends, the episode image is a digitized image of page 477 of a telephone-book sort of work, published in 1888 called “Aeltere Universitäts-Matrikeln; 1649-1811” by Ernst Friedländer. The book is exactly what it sounds like; endless lists of students' registration information in German universities from 1649-1811. The first volume is for the University of Frankfurt A.D. Oder. Here's what we learn: On August 11, 1779, “Moses Margelit Rubin” enrolled. His course of study was "botan." and his father was "Simon Margelit." His father's residence is Kalvarde, which could well be Kalvarija, Lithuania (which is near Kovno; in fact as close to Kovno as Keidan, where he lived when he tutored the Gra). As for the strange idea that his father's or his nationality is "Italien" (it is in the column "Heimath oder Herkunst," "Home or Descent"), this actually describes the Pnei Moshe quite accurately: in 1765 he had moved to Italy, where he remained for years. It isn't impossible to imagine him putting down Italy in his registration. As for the name "Margelit Rubin," which I don't think he is known as anywhere else, presumably it is an attempt at giving a German version of what is after all a Hebrew word for a surname, מרגלית. Now I know that it still doesn't exactly say "The author of Pnei Moshe", nor d