Aaron Samuel ben Israel Kaidanover (Hebrew: אהרן שמואל קאידנוור; 1614 – December 1676) was a Polish-Lithuanian rabbi. Among his teachers were Jacob Hoeschel and his son Joshua Hoeschel (or Hescehel).
Biography
Kaidanover was born in 1614, in Vilna, according to Deutsch and Mannheimer (1904),[1] but according to Tamar (2007)[2] in Koidanovo, near Minsk, from whence his surname was taken.[a] During the Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648–1649), Kaidanover fled to Vilna[2] (or, possibly, returned there), where he became a member of the bet din. In 1656, as a result of the Russian-Swedish War and Sweden's invasion of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, he was forced to flee once again, taking refuge in Kurów. While living at Kurów, violence visited the household: Kaidanover's home was pillaged by Cossacks, his possessions stolen, his valuable library and manuscripts among them, and his two young daughters were killed.[2]
Kaidenvoer was opposed to the use of Shulchan Aruch and its commentaries in deciding Jewish law and instead supported the use of Arba'ah Turim with commentary of the Beis Yosef, going so far as to tell (letter found in the responsaNachlas Shiva) a rabbi to sell all of his books and buy himself a set of Arba'ah Turim.[citation needed]
Birkat ha-Zebaḥ, annotations to the Talmudical tractates of Kodashim (except Hullin and Bekorot), with a preface in which he narrated the remarkable events of his life (edited by his son-in-law Nahum Kohen, brother of Shabbethai Kohen (ש"ך), Amsterdam, 1669; another edition, with the commentary Omer Man, appeared in 1773 [location of publication uncertain, but possibly Berlin]).
Birkat Shemuel, derashot on the Pentateuch, partly kabbalistic, with additions by his son Zebi Hirsch Kaidanover (often "Zevi" Hirsch Kaidanover), its editor (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1682)
Emunat Shemuel, sixty responsa on matrimonial cases, edited by his son (Frankfort, 1683)
Tiferet Shemuel,novellæ[c] to various Talmudic tractates, also edited by his son (Frankfort, 1692). The annotations to Hoshen Mishpat contained in the last-named work were printed in Ture Zahav (Hamburg, 1692).
Benjacob, Isaac ben Jacob (1880). Otzar ha-Sefarim, Thesaurus Librorum Hebræorum. ['Otzar ha-Sefarim, a treasury of Hebrew books']. Vilnius. pp. 41, 87, 88, 659
Fürst, Julius (1863). Bibliotheca Judaica, Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann. Vol. I, p.201; Vol. II, p.200
Grätz, Heinrich (1853–1875). Gesch. Vol. X, p. 81; (Geschichte der Juden von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart. ['History of the Jews from the most ancient times to the present']: 11 volumes. Leipzig: Leiner.)
Horovitz, Márkus (1882–1885). Frankfurter Rabbinen. ['Frankfurt rabbis']. Frankfurt am Main. Vol. ii: pp. 49–53, 99
Kaufmann, David (1889) Vertreibung der Juden aus Wien. ['Expulsion of the Jews from Vienna']. Vienna. p. 62, note 6