Elijah Spira (1660–1712) (alternatively, "Shapira" or "Shapiro",

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: אליהו שפירא) was son of Benjamin Wolf Spira. He was a brother-in-law of Rabbi Yaakov Reischer, Rabbi David Oppenheim and a student of Rabbi

Avraham Gombiner Abraham Abele Gombiner () (c. 1635 – 5 October 1682), known as the Magen Avraham, born in Gąbin (Gombin), Poland, was a rabbi, Talmudist and a leading religious authority in the Jewish community of Kalisz, Poland during the seventeenth century ...

. He was rabbi at

Tiktin Tykocin is a small town in north-eastern Poland, with 2,010 inhabitants (2012), located on the Narew river, in Białystok County in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is one of the oldest towns in the region, with its historic center designated a His ...

, and afterward preacher and director of a large Talmudic academy in his hometown of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. He died at Prague April 14, 1712. His works include ''Eliyahu Zutta'', a commentary on that part of

Mordecai Yoffe Mordecai ben Avraham Yoffe (or Jaffe or Joffe) ( 1530 – 7 March 1612; Hebrew: מרדכי בן אברהם יפה) was a Rabbi, Rosh yeshiva and posek. He is best known as author of ''Levush Malkhus'', a ten-volume codification of Jewish law tha ...

's ''Levush'' relating to the ''

Shulhan Arukh 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 Is ...

'', ''

Orach Chaim Orach Chayim, (''manner/way of life'') is a section of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation of Halakha (Jewish law), Arba'ah Turim. This section addresses aspects of Jewish law pertinent to the Hebrew calendar (be it the daily, weekly, monthly, or ...

'' (Prague, 1689, 1701). His best-known work was ''Eliyahu Rabbah'' (Sulzbach, 1757), containing discussions on ''Orach Chaim''. It was printed

posthumous Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death * Posthumous (album), ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987 * ...

ly by his son, whose name is not given. Originally intended as a commentary on the ''Levush'' (like Eliyahu Zutta), it was printed as commentary on the Shulchan Aruch and became known as such. ''Shishah Shittot,'' containing novellæ on six Talmudic tractates, was published by his grandson Elijah ben Wolf Spira (Fürth, 1768). His

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

works, including commentaries on the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

and

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

, as well as sermons,

responsa ''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars i ...

, etc., were destroyed by fire in 1754.

References

Its bibliography: *

Eliyahu Rabbah Eliahu or Eliyahu is a masculine Hebrew given name and surname of biblical origin. It means "My God is Yahweh" and derives from the prophet Elijah who, according to the Bible, lived during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BCE). People named Elia ...

, Preface; * Fürst, Bibl. Jud. i. 239 (contains many incorrect statements); *

Zunz Zunz ( he, צוּנְץ, yi, צונץ) is a Yiddish surname: * (1874–1939), Belgian pharmacologist * Sir Gerhard Jack Zunz (1923–2018), British civil engineer * Leopold Zunz (Yom Tov Lipmann Tzuntz) (1794–1886), German Reform rabbi an ...

, Monatstage, p. 19. 1660 births 1712 deaths Czech Orthodox rabbis 17th-century Polish rabbis Austrian Orthodox rabbis Rabbis of Prague 18th-century Bohemian rabbis Authors of books on Jewish law {{Judaism-bio-stub