קהילת יהודי מונקאץ'

Gyula I. Pikler (1864-1952), statistician and economist, born in Munkacs, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire, now Mukachevo, Ukraine). He received the degree of M.D. at the University of Vienna, Austria, and served as health officer in Hungary, contributing to medical journals of several countries. From 1897 on he was in charge of the mortality statistics of Budapest; subsequently he became vice-director of the statistical bureau of Budapest. From 1919 to 1924 he was director of the Hungarian real estate assessment bureau.
Upon retirement he lectured throughout Europe on the theory of the revenue from land. He published several works in Hungarian on the taxation of real estate and on Hungarian land reform.

Isaak Kahane (Yitzhak Ze'ev) (1904-1963), rabbinic scholar, born in Munkacs, Hungary (then part of Austria-Hungary, now Mukacevo in Ukraine). He studied at yeshivot in his hometown, where he was ordained as a rabbi, but continued his studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland) and the University of Prague, Czech Republic. He served as rabbi of Pohorelice (Pohrlitz), Moravia, Czech Republic (then part of Czechoslovakia), until his emigration to Palestine in 1939.

In Jerusalem he was associated with Mosad ha-Rav Kook and several other religious research institutions. During the last years of his life, he taught rabbinic literature at Bar Ilan University.

Kahane's major field of research was rabbinic response literature. He conducted studies in which he analyzed specific topics and discussed the manner in which they had be dealt with in rabbinic responsa. He often abstracted material of historical or linguistic interest from them.

Among his works are "Shemittat Kesafim" (1945) on the cancellation of debts in the sabbatical year, "Le-Takkanat Agunot" (1946) on the agunah ("deserted wife") problem, "Sefer ha-Agunot" (1954), a large collection of source material on the agunah question, and "Teshuvot, Pesakim u-Minhagim" (1957-62) which consists of responsa, rulings, and customs of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, all of which were arranged and annotated systematically. His contributions to Hebrew scholarly periodicals and publications included: "Military Service in Rabbinic Responsa" (1948), "Changes in the Value of Currency in Jewish Law" (1949); "Medicine in Post-Talmudic Halakhic Literature"(1950) and "Synagogue Art in Halakhic Literature" (1955). He also wrote a history of the Jews of Moravia, which included a monograph on the Jewish community of Nikolsburg.

Yosef Meir Weiss (Joseph Meir) (Spinker Rebbe, aka Imrei Yosef after his major work) (1838-1909), rabbi and author, born in Munkacs, Hungary (then part of the Austrian Empire, now Mukachevo, in Ukraine), where his father, Samuel Zevi, was head of a yeshivah. He studied under his uncle, Yizhak Izak Weiss, in the small town of Svalyava (now in Ukraine); later at the yeshivah of Meir Eisenstadt and his son in Ungvar (Uzhorod, Ukraine); and subsequently in the yeshivah of Shmelkel Klein in Nagyszollos (now Vynohradiv, Ukraine). After his marriage he was head of a yeshivah in Borsa (now in Romania). On the death of his wife he returned to his parents' home in Munkacs. After his remarriage he stayed with his father-in-law.

Later he became an adherent of his uncle, the Hasidic rabbi, Isaac Izak Eichenstein of Zydaczow, whom he regarded as his teacher in Kabbalah and with whom he remained for a period. The Eichenstein dynasty of hasidic rabbis held their court at Zydaczow, founded by Tsevi Hirsch Eichenstein (died 1831). After Isaac Izac Eichenstein's death, many considered Weiss his successor and he had many disciples. He went on to found the dynasty of Spinka (Sapanta, in Romania) which combines the characteristics of the schools of Zydaczow and Zanz.

He was the subject of many legends. Weiss wrote a work on the Torah. He also published Likkutei Torah ve-ha-Shas of his teacher and uncle, Yizhak Izak of Zydaczov.

Yitzhak Zeev Kahane (1904-1963), rabbi, born in Munkacs (now Mukachevo, Ukraine, then part of Austria-Hungary). He studied and was ordained in Munkacs and then studied at the Breslau Rabbinical Seminary and the University of Prague. Kahane then became rabbi of Pohorelice, remaining until he left for the Land of Israel in 1939. There he engaged in research and in his latter years taught rabbinic literature at Bar-Ilan University. Kahane's main researches were in responsa literature on which he wrote extensively including a three-volume work on Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg.