Meir Leib Ben Jeḥiel Michael Malbim

(1809-1879). Volhynian-born rabbi and Bible commentator. An uncompromising champion of Orthodoxy, Malbim was appointed Chief Rabbi of Rumania in 1858, but his stand on religious fundamentals (such as the Dietary Laws) and his strenuous opposition to Reform antagonized the Bucharest Jewish community leaders, who favored acculturation. Their slanderous charges, which he tried vainly to rebut, induced the Rumanian government to side with his enemies; following a term of imprisonment, he was released through the personal intervention of the British Jewish leader Sir Moses Montefiore, and then had to leave the country in 1864. ḥasidim and radical advocates of the Enlightenment (Haskalah) joined Malbim's persecutors, further embittering his last years. He wrote halakhic works, sermons, and an autobiography, but it was his commentary on the Hebrew Bible (1845-76) that achieved lasting renown. Its popular title, based on the acronym of the author's name, is "The Malbim." This commentary's purpose was ideological as well as expository---to show that the Written and Oral Law are both of Divine origin, to elucidate the plain meaning (Peshat) of the biblical text, and thereby to undermine the Reform movement's prestige in the sphere of exegesis.

---