Rabbi David ben Aryeh Leib of

Lida Lida ( be, Лі́да ; russian: Ли́да ; lt, Lyda; lv, Ļida; pl, Lida ; yi, לידע, Lyde) is a city 168 km (104 mi) west of Minsk in western Belarus in Grodno Region. Etymology The name ''Lida'' arises from its Lithuan ...

( 1650 – 1696) wrote works of

rabbinic literature Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writ ...

, including ''Sefer

Shomer Shabbat In Judaism, a person who is shomer Shabbat or shomer Shabbos (plural ''shomré Shabbat'' or ''shomrei Shabbos''; he, שומר שבת, "Sabbath observer", sometimes more specifically, "Saturday Sabbath observer") is a person who observes the mit ...

'' and books on the 613 Mitzvot,

bris milah The ''brit milah'' ( he, בְּרִית מִילָה ''bərīṯ mīlā'', ; Ashkenazi pronunciation: , "covenant of circumcision"; Yiddish pronunciation: ''bris'' ) is the ceremony of circumcision in Judaism. According to the Book of Genesis, ...

, the

Shulchan Aruch The ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך , literally: "Set Table"), sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in I ...

, the Book of Ruth, and Jewish ethics (''Divrei David'', 1671). He was accused of

Sabbateanism The Sabbateans (or Sabbatians) were a variety of Jewish followers, disciples, and believers in Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676), a Sephardic Jewish rabbi and Kabbalist who was proclaimed to be the Jewish Messiah in 1666 by Nathan of Gaza. Vast n ...

, not to mention plagiarism, but was absolved of wrongdoing by the

Council of the Four Lands The Council of Four Lands ( he, ועד ארבע ארצות, ''Va'ad Arba' Aratzot'') in Lublin, Poland was the central body of Jewish authority in Poland from the second half of the 16th century to 1764. The first known regulation for the Council ...

. He died in

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

(Lemberg).

Biography

His uncle (mother's brother) was the R. Moses Rivkes, author of "Be'er ha-Golah." Besides serving initially as the rabbi of Lida (for which he is named), he also functioned as the of Zwolin and Mainz. In 1682, he was appointed the Ashkenazi rabbi of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia: "The inscription on his tombstone bears the date 5450 = 1690, but Polak (see "Ḳol Bat Gallim," p. 3) proves this to be a mistake, as several works are extant which were endorsed by him after the year given in the inscription. Stern (see "Bikkurim," i., Preface, p. xxxvi.) gives Ḥeshwan, 5448, which may, however, be a misprint for 5458 = 1698."

Works

*''Be'er 'Eseḳ'' (The Well of Dispute), 1684 *''Divre David'', a moral treatise *''Ḥalluḳe Abanim'' (Smooth Stones), a commentary on Rashi to the Pentateuch (Fürth, 1693) *''Ir Miḳlaṭ'' (The City of Refuge), a commentary on the 613 commandments (Dyhernfurth, 1690) *''Migdal David'' (The Tower of David), a cabalistic commentary on Ruth (

, 1680) *''Berit Adonai'' (The Alliance of God), a treatise in Judæo-German on circumcision (Amsterdam, 1684) *''Sod Adonai'' (The Secret of God), a treatise in Hebrew on circumcision, with a commentary entitled "Sharbiṭ ha-Zahab" (The Golden Scepter), written at

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

in 1680, and published at Amsterdam 1694 *''Ir Dawid'' (The Town of David), a collection of homilies, edited by his son Pethahiah (Amsterdam, 1719) *''Shir Hillulim'' (Wedding Song), a poem on the occasion of presenting a Sefer Torah scroll to the synagogue (Amsterdam, 1680)

Sources

* ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'', V:1348 1650s births 1690s deaths 17th-century Polish rabbis {{poland-rabbi-stub