Eidlitz, Moses Zarah

Austrian Talmudist; born before 1725; died May 17, 1786, at Prague. Following the custom of the time, he conducted a Talmud school in his dwelling, and, besides teaching his pupils gratuitously, he aided them with his small means to such an extent that he impoverished himself. Nevertheless, he continued to pay the same Jew-tax that had been apportioned to him in his better days. Only when he was actually unable to pay the sum did he bend to the entreaties of his friends and state his case to the "primator," Israel Frankl. Eidlitz, however, refused the roll of ducats that the latter sent him. Frankl, desiring to force the modest rabbi to accept the money, declared that he could not remit the tax if Eidlitz was rich enough to refuse such a sum of money, and the rabbi was finally forced to yield. After his death the roll of ducats was found among his few possessions, with a note requesting his family to restore the money to its original owner, Frankl.

Eidlitz wrote