Maharil is the great and pious Rabbi Yaakov Moelin bar Moshe HaLevi, head of the court in Mainz. He was a student of Rabbi Shalum Moyan called Maharash who spread Torah and established many students, and he authored responsa. He passed away in the year 5187 as is evident in Maharil at the beginning of the laws of Pesach. And know that the Maharil and his teachers Maharash and Maharak are the first authorities in whose name the semicha (ordination) became new among the Ashkenazim, which the early authorities did not conceive.

And Abarbanel wrote, commentary 176, that the love of the Mishnah is called "rei'a" (friend)—I do not know from where the permission for this semicha came. Also the Ralbag is amazed about this in his responsa. And I heard from the great Rabbi Sini bar Betzalel that the semicha became new because many were engaged in matters of gittin (divorces) and kiddushin (marriages) even though they did not know well their laws, therefore this semicha was established as a sign that whoever is not ordained by his teacher does not have permission to engage in well in gittin and kiddushin [(Tzeda).

It is written in the responsa Chacham Tzvi, section 26, that Maharil as an elder was better than Maharik, and perhaps Maharik was born after the death of Maharil, for Maharari, author of Terumat HaDeshen, was a young man and child in the time of Maharil who was not ordained by his teacher when Maharil was distinguished in wisdom and elder age and famous in his generation. And Maharari would ask Torah from Maharil as a distinguished student, and Maharil would answer him as a distinguished and great rabbi.

And what Maharari wrote in Terumat HaDeshen that one great one wrote in his responsa, his intention was about Maharil. And Sefer Eliyahu Parav and Rabbi Yisrael Bruna were young men when Maharari was famous in wisdom and elder age. And Rabbi Yisrael Bruna was ordained by Maharari and by Maharil and pronounced in the name of his teachers. And Rabbi Yisrael Bruna was the same age as Mahari Kolon and they wrote to each other as friends who debate.

Maharil was a distinguished rabbi and accepted by the Ashkenazim, and he knew well their traditions and customs]: