Meir Simha HaKohen Dvinsk

Meir Simchah HaKohen of Dvinsk — also known as the Ohr Sameach — was a Lithuanian rabbi and scholar. He was supported in his Torah education by his merchant father and later by his wife until, at the age of 40, he accepted a position as the rabbi of Dvinsk. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of philosophical and kabbalistic literature, and his commentaries on the Rambam's Mishneh Torah and on the Torah are noted for their originality and depth. His knowledge of the Jerusalem Talmud was so thorough that he was able to immediately determine that two supposedly "newly discovered" tractates were forgeries. He was very beloved by his congregation, and though he received offers of rabbinic posts in Jerusalem, New York, Kovno, and other cities, he retained his position in Dvinsk for almost forty years.