Meir Dan Plotsky (or Plotski) (1866 - March 27, 1928) was a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah and the president of Kollel Polen,[1] a talmudic scholar who authored the Kli Chemdah, a commentary on the Torah.[2] He also authored the Chemdas Yisrael on Sefer ha-Mitzvot.
Plotsky married at the age of 15 and spent the next 10 years in Dvohrt with his in-laws. In 1891, he became Rav in Dvohrt. Later he helped expose the forged Yerushalmi on Kodshim, claimed to be discovered by Shlomo Yehuda Friedlander, who also claimed he was a Sefardi named Shlomo Yehuda Algazi. At the age of 36 he published his work on the Sefer Hamitzvos of Maimonides, called Chemdas Yisrael. In 1918, he became Rav of Ostrow-Mazowiecka in eastern Poland. He was voted chairman of Agudas Harabbanim of Poland, a prelude to Agudath Israel. In 1921, Rabbi Plotsky participated in a tour of American cities on behalf of the Agudath Israel, visiting New York, Baltimore,[4] Boston[5] and Cincinnati.[6] At the age of 60, he left the rabbinate to head a large yeshiva in Warsaw, known simply as the Mesivta.[3]
Family
From 1930, his son-in-law, Rabbi Yaacov Shraga Zinger, took his place as rav of Ostrow-Mazowiecka. His son, Rabbi Israel, was a teacher and halacha posek in the city.[7] They were both slaughtered in the Holocaust.
