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Naḥman Kahana

KAHANA, NAḤMAN (1861–1904), Hungarian rabbi. Kahana, the son-in-law of Joseph Meir *Weiss, was rabbi of Szaploncza. He became particularly well-known because of his Orhot Ḥayyim (2 pts., 1898; 19622), on the Shulḥan Arukh Oraḥ Ḥayyim, which for a long time was regarded as an indispensable reference work for every rabbi. It included the important glosses of Shalom Mordecai ha-Kohen Schwadron and Elijah David *Rabinowitz-Teomim. The author made use of more than 800 works of responsa and codes, assembling the material logically in a clear style. In the new edition glosses from the author's private copy, and by Solomon Zalman Ehrenreich, Ephraim Weinberger, and others were added. He also arranged the publication of the Divrei Ge'onim (1901) of his father, Ḥayyim Aryeh ha-Kohen, and of the Likkutei Torah ve-ha-Shas on Deuteronomy (1892) by Isaac Eichenstein of Zhidachov.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

P.Z. Schwartz, Shem ha-Gedolim me-Ereẓ Hagar, 2 (1914), 20a; A. Stern, Meliẓei Eshal ẓodesh Tammuz (1931), 66b; N. Ben-Menahem, Mi-Sifrut Yisrael be-Hungaryah (1958), 130–2, 245, 302.


Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.