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R. AARON-SHMUEL KNELER
By D. Prister
Libivne did not have the honor of producing
many authors of books, either rabbinical or secular.
But we got to know one such author.
The one was R. Aaron-Shmuel Kneler. In
1907, he published the book MinchatMarcheshet,
consisting of sermons written in the usual style of
such rabbinical literature.
It was impossible to collect the exact details
of his biography. The little bits that were available
came from various sources, as well as from
his book. As we can see from the frontispiece,
illustrated here, he called himself "Aaron-
Shmuel Kneler of Libomle" as he was also
called by those rabbis who put their stamp of
approval on his book. This name was also used
by R. Yehuda-Arye Eliezer, who described him
as ben in i ["son of my city"]. But the rabbi of
Ustile, R. Ben Tsiyon, the son of R. Tsvi Raytsir,
an d the "righteous teacher" of Ustile, R. Tsvi
Dovid, z"k [the descendant of righteous men],
said in their letters of approval that Aaron-
Shmuel was born in Ustile.
We read in one letter that his father was
named Moyshe and that "all his life he never
stirred from the tent of halacha and Torah; and
the fear and awe of the Almighty shielded him all
the days of his life!" There is a hint in the words
of R. Tsvi Dovid, z"k, that Aaron-Shmuel came to
Libivne not later than the beginning of the 1890s
and perhaps even earlier.
R. Aaron-Shmuel was also a darshan, an
itinerant preacher who traveled not only locally,
through towns and cities, but also to
foreign countries. In his preface the author tells
us he has been doing this for more than 20
years. Therefore we can infer that he was born
either in the fifites or sixties of the last century.
170
He also writes in his book, "Thousands of Jews
have blessed me after my sermon, wishing me
well for a job well done, in several of the
countries where I have been."
It is not very clear why he wandered around
so much. Certainly, itinerant preachers could not
stay too long in one place, but even the most
famous preachers did not travel to foreign lands,
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Title page of Minchat Marcheshet, by Aaron-Shmuel
Kneler from Luboml.