This article originally appeared in Yated Neeman, Monsey NY. and is reprinted here with their permission

Once, the Maharshal, Rav Shlomo Luria, was sitting at his desk writing chiddushim on the Talmud, when suddenly his candle went out. He looked up from his seforim and was surprised to see that dawn had already broken. Although his tiny candle should have burned for only half an hour, it lasted an entire night.

In his sefer, Yam Shel Shlomo, the Maharshal refers to this incident as a miracle.

This incident is also "miraculous" in that it shows the degree to which the Maharshal devoted himself to his learning. For the Maharshal, there was nothing in this world besides Torah.

ILLUSTRIOUS ROOTS

Rav Shlomo Luria was born in 5280 in the city of Pozna. His father, Rav Yechiel Luria Ashkenazi, was the rav of the Lithuanian city of Slutzk and an eminent talmid chacham.

The Luria family could trace it roots back to Rashi. Over the generations, this illustrious family produced many Torah giants.

Among them was the Rav Shlomo's great grandfather, Rav Yechiel, an av beis din in Brisk. He was the first member of the Luria family to move from Germany to Poland. He was also the first rav to hold an official rabbinical post in Poland.

When Rav Shlomo was a child, his father passed away. Having no choice, his mother moved into her parents' home.

Rav Yechiel's passing had a marked affect on Rav Shlomo, who became very sensitive and introspective. As a youth, he was unlike other children his age. Instead of playing outside with his friends, he spent his time in the beis medrash studying, or in his grandfather's library.

His grandfather, Rav Yitzchak Kalover, was rosh yeshiva of Pozna's main yeshiva. He was very fond of Rav Shlomo. The feeling was mutual, and Rav Shlomo eventually called himself "Rav Yitzchak's Shlomo."

Rav Shlomo studied in the Pozna Yeshiva, and soon became its most outstanding student.

Then one night, a fire broke out in Pozna, destroying most of its homes, including Rav Yitzchak Kalover's. The Kalover family was left penniless, and Rav Yitzchak's yeshiva was forced to close.

TO AUSTROHA AND BRISK AND BACK AGAIN

Wanting to ease his grandfather's financial burden, Rav Shlomo went to Austroha, where he studied in Os HaTorah, a yeshiva established by Rav Klonimus Haberkasten, a German refugee.

Rav Klonimus was an exceptionally pious talmid chacham, whom the Arizal called "a great gadol." Recognizing Rav Shlomo's unique talents, Rav Klonimus paid him special attention, eventually taking him as a son-in-law.

After his marriage, Rav Shlomo helped his father-in-law lead the yeshiva. He dedicated so much time and effort to the yeshiva that people said, "The Maharshal doesn't live in Austroha, but in 'Os HaTorah.'"

Among Rav Shlomo's students in Austroha were such Torah great as Rav Binyamin Aharon, the author of Masos Binyamin; Rav Moshe, the av beis din of Premsila and author of Mateh Moshe; Rav Eliyahu Baal Shem of Chelem, a renowned kabbalist; Rav Ephraim Luntshitz, the author of Olelos Ephraim; Rav Shlomo, the Bach's rav; Rav Yoshe Valk, author of the Meiras Einayim; and Rav Mordechai Yaffe, the Baal Halevushim.

In time, Brisk's leaders invited the Maharshal to serve as their rav. But Rav Shlomo did not remain in Brisk for long. He soon moved to Lithuania, where he served as a rav in various communities for 15 years.

His impact on these communities was profound, and each community took pride in the fact that he had been its rav. That is why he was known as, among other titles, Rav Shlomo of Lithuania and the Maharshal of Austroha.

Eventually, Rav Klonimus assumed the position of rosh yeshiva in Brisk. It was at that point that Rav Shlomo returned to Austroha, replacing Rav Klonimous as the official rav of the city and the region.

Not long afterward, Rav Shlomo was asked to succeed the aging Rav Shalom Shachna as head of the famed Lublin Yeshiva, which attracted students from all over Europe. Rav Shlomo accepted the position, but due to various internal problems in the yeshiva, he soon resigned. He then opened his own beis medrash in a shul he built on a plot of land donated by a doctor named Rav Yitzchak Mai. This shul, which seated 3,000 people, had a unique design and was renowned for its beauty. Known as the Maharshal's shul, it remained intact until World War II.

A GREAT CONTRIBUTION

One of the Maharshal's greatest undertakings was his effort to correct errors made by copiers of the Shas. Quite often, these mistakes made the text unclear or ambiguous.

With amazing precision, the Maharshal scrutinized every single letter in the editions of the Talmud and the commentaries of Rashi, Tosfos, and the Rishonim, among them Rambam, the Rif, the Ran and the Rosh. He compared and searched for mistakes, recording his findings in the margins of his seforim.

These comments were later published by his son in a sefer entitled Chochmas Shlomo. An abridged version of Chochmas Shlomo appears in nearly all editions of the Talmud today, at the end of each mesechta.

APPROACH TO HALACHA

The Maharshal objected to the pilpul approach that was popular in his day. He also felt that in his generation, the method of recording only conclusive halachic rulings might cause certain scholars to refer to such rulings without probing the Talmudic sugyos from which they were derived.

He wrote Yam Shel Shlomo to correct this situation. In this profound work on 16 mesechtos of Shas, the Maharshal probes the depths of the halacha and clarifies the process by which those halachos are reached. Today, only chiddushim on seven mesechtos are in existence.

Yam Shel Shlomo was the result of years of intensive exertion, probing and elucidation. The Maharshal himself affirmed that it took him two years to compile less than half of his commentary on Yevamos, and an entire year to clarify two chapters in Kesubos.

His Sheilos u'Teshuvos, a collection of responses to halachic questions addressed to him from all over the world, sheds light on his multifaceted personality. It illustrates that he was a staunch upholder of justice and the Torah's honor, and it demonstrates his sensitivity to the plights and suffering of Jews from all walks of life.

One of these responses concerns a Vilna resident who refused to obey a din torah. Dauntlessly, the Maharshal wrote, "That person should be rebuked and chastised, so that justice will prevail in Am Yisroel."

Another response focuses on the case a person who defamed an innocent Jew. Referring to that incident, the Maharshal said that the defamer should be lashed in shul in front of the entire community.

"If he wants to repent," he added, "he should don black clothing. Then, while holding two black candles, he should stand in the middle of the shul and proclaim, 'Rabbosai, I have sinned to Hashem Elokai Yisroel. I have falsely defamed a respectable Jew and seek forgiveness and atonement.'"

Once, when a resident of Novardok offended a neighbor, the Maharshal decreed: "He should stand before the aron kodesh and, while holding two black candles, beg forgiveness. Then he should sit at the shul's entrance for three weeks, like a mourner. The entire community must compel him to uphold this ruling. If he refuses to obey it, he will be placed in cherem."

On yet another occasion, he rebuked a husband who had separated from his wife, saying, "You have shed blood. If you refuse to rectify your behavior, my entire yeshiva will come out against you."

SCRUTINIZING HIS OWN ACTIONS

Despite his uncompromising stance on Torah matters, the Maharshal was a humble person, who fled honor and despised conflict and strife.

He constantly scrutinized his own actions and even appointed a special person to rebuke him every day at a set time.

The Chida described these daily sessions: "When the reprover arrived, the Maharshal would wrap himself in a tallis and listen to the rebukes with reverence."

The Imrei Emes of Ger once related the following story regarding the Maharshal:

During the years the Maharshal was in Lublin, a young woman told him that before her husband's passing, he had asked her to vow that she would never remarry. In her sorrow, she complied with his request. However, after the mourning period, she regretted her vow.

Stating that man is required to improve and inhabit the world, the Maharshal permitted her to remarry.

After she remarried, however, her former husband appeared to her in a dream and rebuked her for having broken her promise. He also demanded that she divorce her second husband. This dream recurred every night, until the woman fell seriously ill. When she was on the brink of death, her relatives approached the Maharshal, claiming that since she had followed his ruling, she didn't deserve to be punished.

The Maharshal was greatly pained by what he heard and ran to the woman's home, where neighbors were reciting Tehillim.

The Maharshal entered her room and approached her bed, which was surrounded by candles.

"Ribbono Shel Olam," he cried, "You have commanded us to observe Your mitzvos and fulfill Your sacred Torah. I issued a ruling according to din Torah and permitted this woman to remarry, despite the vow she had made. She hasn't sinned."

The Maharshal's eyes glowed as he spoke, and those in the room fell silent. Suddenly, the woman opened her eyes and asked for a glass of water. Shortly afterward, she fully recovered.

CLOSENESS WITH THE REMA

The Maharshal was very close with the Rema, Rav Moshe Isserles of Krakow, who was also his cousin. These two Torah giants exchanged letters on halachic and personal topics, and held each other in high esteem.

On one occasion, the Rema wrote to the Maharshal, "Blessed is the generation in which you live, great as Shammai, humble as Hillel."

In yet another letter the Rema hinted that he had saved all of the Maharshal 's letters, regarding them as divrei Torah.

Despite their deep friendship, the Maharshal objected to the Rema's method of presenting halachic rulings, which did not include showing how they were derived.

ONE MUST BE DESERVING

Another matter to which the Maharshal objected was that of conferring the titles "Moreinu" and "Harav" on people unworthy of such distinctions. In Yam Shel Shlomo, he states that many undeserving people bear such titles, calling them "little foxes who sabotage Hashem's vineyard."

He then explains that the title "Moreinu" may only be conferred on one whose Torah study is his exclusive or primary pursuit, who has thoroughly mastered all of Shas and poskim, and who has studied Shulchan Oruch under the tutelage of a rav.

The following account, cited by Shem Hagedolim, describes the Maharshal's relationship with someone who truly deserved the title "Moreinu."

Underneath the Maharshal's beis medrash was a vegetable store owned by a humble, reserved Jew named Rav Avraham. One night, the Maharshal heard Rav Avraham studying a complicated sugya and explaining it in depth.

The Maharshal went down to the store and asked Rav Avraham a question on the sugya. At first, Rav Avraham claimed that since he wasn't a rav, he couldn't answer such a question. However, after the Maharshal ordered him to speak, Rav Avraham had no choice but to obey him.

The storekeeper's brilliant answer astounded the Maharshal, who, from then on, made a point of discussing Torah with him. Rav Avraham, though, continued to portray himself as nothing more than a simple man.

Before the Maharshal passed away, he instructed the community to appoint the storekeeper as its rav, saying that he was truly worthy of that position.

ILLUMINATING FOR GENERATIONS

The Maharshal passed away on the 12th of Kislev, 5334. He was survived by two sons, Rav Wolf and Rav Yechiel, and by three daughters who were married, respectively, to Rav Shimon Zev Auerbach, a rav and av beis din in Prague; Rav Eliezer; and Rav Ephraim Fischel.

In addition to Yam Shel Shlomo and Chochmas Shlomo, the Maharshal wrote many other works, including a commentary on the Tur; Yerios Shlomo, on Rashi;Amudei Shlomo, on the Smag; and Ateres Shlomo.

The inscription on his tombstone speaks volumes about the impact he had on the Jews on his time and on Jews throughout the centuries.