The Maharsham

R. Shalom Mordechai HaKohen Schwadron (1835-1911), the Maharsham of Berezhany (Brzeżany), was the leading Galician posek of his generation and recipient of more shaylas (halachic questions) by mail than perhaps any rabbi of his era. His nine-volume Teshuvot Maharsham responsa addresses an extraordinary range of late-19th-century practical questions — agricultural shemitta, early-modern technology, mass-emigration personal-status issues — and remains a top-shelf Acharonim resource. He served as Av Beit Din of Berezhany for over 40 years.