The Maharshal, Rabbi Shlomo Luria zy"a
The Maharshal zy"a
המהרש״ל
Upcoming yahrzeit: 22 November 2026 (5787)
Send a kvittel to this keverBiography
The Maharshal zy"a, Rabbi Shlomo Luria, was among the gedolei haposkim of Polish Jewry in the sixteenth century. He was rosh yeshiva in Lublin, and Lublin in those years was a center of Torah, sometimes called a Yerushalayim of the Polish kingdom. He was niftar on 12 Kislev 5334 (17 November 1573) and rests in the alte Beis Hachaim on Grodzisko hill.
His Yam Shel Shlomo and Chochmas Shlomo remain standard seforim on the Gemara. He was a contemporary of the Remu zy"a; the two were in contact, and later accounts record both deep respect and disagreements in halacha. The Remu’s page is on this site. The Maharshal’s matzeivah in Lublin was recarved in the nineteenth century; the tziyun is still visited together with the other great kevarim of that Beis Hachaim.
A shliach brings your kvittel to his tziyun and sends back a photograph.
Historical background
Lublin in the sixteenth century was a seat of yeshivos and of the Vaad Arba Aratzos. A synagogue in the city later carried the Maharshal’s name (the Maharshal shul), which was destroyed in the Second World War. His kever, like the others on Grodzisko hill, survived in damaged form and has been cared for again in recent decades. See also the pages of Rabbi Shalom Shachna, who taught in Lublin in the generation before him, and of the Remu in Krakow.
Before & after
Who came before
- Rabbi Shalom Shachna zy"a — Rosh yeshiva in Lublin in the previous generation, rebbi of the Remu; he rests in the same Beis Hachaim.
Who came after
- The Maharam of Lublin zy"a — A later rosh yeshiva and posek in Lublin, also buried in this Beis Hachaim.
In his dor
- The Remu zy"a — Posek and rosh yeshiva in Krakow; a contemporary with whom the Maharshal was in correspondence.
Sources
The facts on this page come from the earlier site and from the sources listed here. Where the sources are not one shittah, it is written in the text.
- Standard biographies of Rabbi Shlomo Luria, the Maharshal (12 Kislev 5334 / 17 November 1573)
- YIVO Encyclopedia: Luria, Shelomoh ben Yeḥiel
- Teatr NN Lexicon: Old Jewish cemetery in Lublin (Grodzisko / Kalinowszczyzna; Shalom Shachna, 1558)
- Cmentarze-zydowskie.pl: Jewish cemetery in Lublin (Chozeh, Maharshal, Shalom Shachna, and the hill)
- Hebcal date converter (Hebrew–Gregorian yahrzeit dates, including 5787)
Send a kvittel
Send a kvittel to The Maharshal zy"a
Write the names and your bakashah. The kvittel will be brought to this kever. A pidyon of eighteen dollars or more goes with it; you choose the amount, and you will be taken to a secure payment page. The shliach receives the kvittel only once the pidyon is received.