Israel Lewy was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

-Jewish scholar. He was educated at the Jewish Theological Seminary

Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau

Das Jüdisch-Theologische Seminar , The Jewish Theological Seminary of BreslauInstitution in Breslau for the training of rabbis, founded under the will of Jonas Fränckel, and opened in 1854...

 and the University in Breslau. In 1874 he was appointed docent

Docent

Docent is a title at some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks below professor . Docent is also used at some universities generically for a person who has the right to teach...

 at the Lehranstalt für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums in 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 in 1883, on the death of David Joël, he was called to the seminary at Breslau. Lewy's knowledge of Talmudic literature

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....

 was unusually wide; he was endowed also with an exceptionally acute and dispassionate critical spirit and with a faculty for grasping the proper importance of details.

His first publication was Ueber Einige Fragmente aus der Mischna des Abba Saul (Berlin, 1876), in which he showed that the Mishnah

Mishnah

The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...

 collections of the foremost teachers in the period before the final redaction of the Mishnah itself, including that of Abba Saul

Abba Saul

For the first Generation Tanna sage with a similar name, see Abba Saul ben Batnit.Abba Saul was a fourth generation Tanna . His elder contemporary was Akiva ben Joseph...

, agreed as regards all the essential points of the Halakha

Halakha

Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...

.

Ein Wort über die Mechilta des R. Simon (Breslau, 1889) was likewise an authoritative work in the field of halakhic exegesis. Lewy also published Interpretation des Ersten, Zweiten und Dritten Abschnitts des Palästinischen Talmud

Jerusalem Talmud

The Jerusalem Talmud, talmud meaning "instruction", "learning", , is a collection of Rabbinic notes on the 2nd-century Mishnah which was compiled in the Land of Israel during the 4th-5th century. The voluminous text is also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud de-Eretz Yisrael...

-Traktates Nesikin

Nezikin

For Jewish law on damages, see Damages Nezikin or Seder Nezikin is the fourth Order of the Mishna...

(ib. 1895-1902), and Ein Vortrag über das Ritual des Pesach

Passover

Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...

-Abends (ib. 1904).