SHAKNA, SHALOM (commonly called Shakna ben Joseph):
Polish Talmudist; born about 1510; died at Lublin Oct. 29, 1558. He was a pupil of Jacob Pollak, founder of the method of Talmudic study known as the Pilpul. By the year 1528 he had already become famous as a teacher, and hundreds flocked to Lublin to receive instruction at his yeshibah. Many of his pupils became recognized rabbinical authorities, among them being: MosesIsserles of Cracow (Shakna's son-in-law); Moses Heilprin, author of "Zikron Mosheh"; Solomon ben Judah, rabbi of Lublin; and Ḥayyim ben Bezaleel, rabbi at Friedberg.
Shakna on his death-bed, from motives of extreme modesty, enjoined his son R. Israel from printing any of his (Shakna's) manuscripts. One of his writings, however, namely, the treatise "Pesaḳim be-'Inyan Ḳiddushin," was edited by Moses, son of the physician Samuel (Cracow, 1540 ?).
- Grätz, Gesch. 3d ed., ix. 436;
- Fuenn, Ḳiryah Ne'emanah, p. 52;
- B. Friedberg, Neue auf dem Jüdischen Friedhof in Krakau Aufgefundene Grabschriften, p. 4;
- idem, Gesch. der Hebräischen Typographie in Krakau, p. 6;
- Nissenbaum, Le-Ḳorot ha-Yehudim be-Lublin, p. 18;
- Halberstam, in Kobak's Jeschurun, v. 194.
