Hirschel Levin
Encyclopedia
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, and Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
of Halberstadt
Halberstadt
Halberstadt is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt and the capital of the district of Harz. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road and the Magdeburg–Thale railway....
and Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
.
Rzeszów
Rzeszów is a city in southeastern Poland with a population of 179,455 in 2010. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River, in the heartland of the Sandomierska Valley...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
to Aryeh Löb
Aryeh Leib ben Saul
Aryeh Leib ben Saul Lowenstam was a Polish rabbi.-Life:Aryeh Leib came of a famous family of rabbis. His father Saul had been rabbi of Cracow from 1700 to 1704, his grandfather was Rabbi Hoeschl of Cracow...
and Miriam Lowenstam. His father was rabbi at Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
and his mother was daughter of Rabbi Chacham Zvi Ashkenazi. He was a descendant of Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm
Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm
Elijah Ba'al Shem was a Polish rabbi who studied under Rabbi Solomon Luria and later became the Chief Rabbi of Chełm. He was a co-signer of the Agunah laws and, according to legend, used the powers of Kabbalah to create a Golem creature. Many legends surround his life in regards to this creation...
.
Levin was a distinguished Talmudist, and in 1751 he threw himself into the struggle between Jacob Emden (who was, in fact, his uncle) and Jonathan Eybeschütz
Jonathan Eybeschutz
Jonathan Eybeschutz , was a Talmudist, Halachist, Kabbalist, holding positions as Dayan of Prague, and later as Rabbi of the "Three Communities": Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek. With Jacob Emden, he is well known as a protagonist in the Emden-Eybeschütz Controversy.-Biography:Eybeschütz's father was...
, naturally siding with the former. His epistles against Eybeschütz made such an impression that in 1756 he was elected Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
of the Great Synagogue of London
Great Synagogue of London
The Great Synagogue of London was, for centuries, the centre of Ashkenazi synagogue and Jewish life in London. It was destroyed during World War II, in the Blitz.-History:...
. He resigned in 1763, and accepted the rabbinate of Halberstadt. He was succeeded as Chief Rabbi by Rabbi Meshullam Solomon
Meshullam Solomon
Israel Meshullam Solomon was one of two rival Chief Rabbis of the United Kingdom and the rabbi of the Hambro' Synagogue. Solomon claimed authority as Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom from 1765 to 1780, while Rabbi Tevele Schiff claimed the same authority from 1765 to 1791...
and Rabbi Tevele Schiff
Tevele Schiff
Chief Rabbi David Tevele Schiff was the chief rabbi of the United Kingdom and the rabbi of the Great Synagogue of London from 1765 until his death....
, rival claimants appointed by dissenting factions in the Jewish community of London. Lyon afterward became rabbi of Mannheim, and in 1772 he was appointed Chief Rabbi of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. He was a great friend of Moses Mendelssohn
Moses Mendelssohn
Moses Mendelssohn was a German Jewish philosopher to whose ideas the renaissance of European Jews, Haskalah is indebted...
.
Levin began in 1782 to persecute Naphtali Hirz Wessely
Naphtali Hirz Wessely
NaphtaliHerz Wessely, aka NaphtaliHirz Wessely, also Wesel was a 18th-century German Jewish Hebraist and educationist born at Hamburg.-Family History:...
for his Divre Shalom ve-Emet
Words of Peace and Truth
Words of Peace and Truth was a Hebrew work produced by the Jewish scholar Naphtali Herz Wessely, a disciple of Moses Mendelssohn and a prominent figure of the Haskalah....
. He prohibited the printing of that work, and insisted upon the expulsion of the author from Berlin.
His glosses on the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
appear in the Vilna edition
Vilna Edition Shas
The Vilna Edition of the Talmud, printed in Vilna , Lithuania, is by far the most common printed edition of the Talmud still in use today as the basic text for Torah study in yeshivas and by all scholars of Judaism....
under the name of Rabbi Tsvi Hersh Berlin. His son, Rabbi Solomon Hirschell
Solomon Hirschell
Rabbi Solomon Hirschell was the Chief rabbi of Great Britain, 1802-42. He is best remembered for his unsuccessful attempt to stop the spread of Reform Judaism in Britain by excommunicating its leaders....
was also Chief Rabbi of the British German and Polish Jewish community, and the first of the British empire. His other son, Saul Berlin
Saul Berlin
Saul Berlin was a German Talmudist and one of the most learned Jews of the Mendelssohnian period.-Early life:...
, was a Talmudist and notorious forger of the Besamim Rosh.
External links
- Hirschel Ben Aryeh Löb Levin at the Jewish EncyclopediaJewish EncyclopediaThe Jewish Encyclopedia is an encyclopedia originally published in New York between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. It contained over 15,000 articles in 12 volumes on the history and then-current state of Judaism and the Jews as of 1901...
- The British Chief Rabbinate