Readings on Maramarosh

Since World War II, the sub-Carpathian Mountain region once known as Maramarosh has remained “Judenrein” (free of Jews). Jewish Maramarosh lives on, however, through the contributions to scholarship and humanity of Maramarosh Holocaust survivors and their progeny, including Nobel laureate Elie Weisel and the Talmud scholar Professor David Halivni-Weiss.Maramarosh Shoah survivor and Talmud scholar Professor Elieser Slomovic here provides access to a collection of responsa literature, most of it out of print and previously available only or primarily in Yiddish. Through personal queries about how to live Torah-instructed lives and rabbinic responses, the reader is invited to enter the world of Jewish Maramarosh, where Hasidism flourished and rabbinic scholarship reflected human nobility manifested through the pragmatics of poverty and the dynamics of living closely with nature. Professor Slomovic, recognizing the fluidity and balance over time provided by Talmudic thought as exemplified through rabbinic teaching, invites the reader to join the discourse on the everyday life of everyday people.

Elieser Slomovic (PhD Jewish Theological Seminary) was a scholar of post-biblical and rabbinic literature and the Finkelstein Associate Professor of Rabbinics at the American Jewish University (formerly known as the University of Judaism). His published articles include “Toward an Understanding of the Formation of Historical Titles in the Book of Psalms” and “Toward an Understanding of the Exegesis of the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Professor Slomovic passed away in 2005.