The Mahari Weil

R. Yaakov ben Yehuda Weil (c. 1390-1456), the Mahari Weil, was the leading German posek of the early 15th century — student of R. Yaakov HaLevi Moelin (the Maharil) and rabbi of Nuremberg, Augsburg, and Erfurt. His Sheelot u-Teshuvot Mahari Weil responsa and Hilchot Shechita are foundational texts of Ashkenazi-German halacha; his Hilchot Shechita remains the standard manual for shechita in much of the Ashkenazi world.