Bloch, Samson ben Moses
BLOCH, SAMSON BEN MOSES
BLOCH, SAMSON BEN MOSES (d. 1737), dayyan and rabbi of Hamburg. Bloch, known also as "Samson the Ḥasid," was one of the first scholars and teachers and later the principal in the bet midrash built by Issachar Baer Kohen in 1707. He was known for his erudition and for his close ties with the great halakhic authorities of his generation. Bloch greatly exerted himself for the benefit of his community and it was through his efforts that the Jews were permitted to escape to Altona during a time of danger. The glosses and novellae which he wrote in the margins of the Shulḥan Arukh, Oraḥ Ḥayyim were published under the title Nezirut Shimshon (Berlin, 1764), and, again, together with the text of the Oraḥ Ḥayyim (Prague, 1785). Tosafot Ḥadashim (Amsterdam, 1775), his commentary on the Mishnah, was published with the text and later republished in many editions of the Mishnah. Samson also wrote halakhic novellae which have not been published. His sons were Issachar Baer and Moses, dayyan of Mezhirech.
bibliography:
H. Wagenaar, Toledot Ya'veẓ (1868), 34, 63; E. Duckesz, Chachme ahw (1908), 24–26 (Hebrew section), 9–10 (German section); S.M. Chones, Toledot ha-Posekim (1910), 447.
[Abraham David]