Moses Isserles (Rema)

Rabbi Moses ben Israel Isserles, known by the acronym Rema, was a renowned 16th-century Polish scholar and the primary halakhic authority for European Jewry, author of Sefer HaMappah (also known as Haggahot HaRema) on the Shulchan Arukh, and Darkhei Moshe on the Tur. He was born in Krakow to Yisrael, (also known as "Isserl", from which was fashioned the surname "Isserles"), and studied under Shalom Shachna of Lublin, who later became his father-in-law. He became rabbi in Krakow and established a yeshiva there, which he funded himself. He also served on the Council of the Four Lands. His other works include Torat Chatat on kosher dietary laws; Torat HaOlah, a philosophical explanation of the Temple and its sacrifices; Teshuvot Rema (responsa); and Mechir Yayin, an allegorical commentary on the book of Esther, which he wrote in his youth one Purim under difficult circumstances and gave to his family in lieu of mishloach manot.