Yitzhak HaLevi ben Mordechai Raitzes ( 1730 – 14 June 1799) was a Polish
rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
.
Biographical information
Yitzhak HaLevi was born circa 1730 in Lviv
to Mordechai Halevi Raitzes the ''
Rosh Mesivta
The title ''rosh mesivta'' (alt. ''rosh metivta''; he, ראש מתיבתא; from the Aramaic ''reish metivta''),
abbreviated as Ram, is a term in Jewish education for a leading figure in an educational institution. The term has a long history, go ...
'' in Lviv, who was the son of Yehoshua (Joshua) Raitzes (Reizes) who was martyred in Lviv on 13 May 1728.
He married Sara Leah Lowenstamm, the daughter of
Aryeh Leib ben Saul
Aryeh Leib ben Saul Löwenstam ( 1690 in Cracow – 2 April 1755 in Amsterdam) 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 ...
, the Rabbi of
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
, and the granddaughter of
Tzvi Ashkenazi
Tzvi Hirsch ben Yaakov Ashkenazi ( he, צבי אשכנזי; 1656 – May 2, 1718), known as the Chacham Tzvi after his responsa by the same title, served for some time as rabbi of Amsterdam. He was a resolute opponent of the followers of the fals ...
, the Chacham Tzvi. Halevi's first rabbinical position was ''
Av Bais Din'' of
Leshnev a small town, currently in
Lviv Oblast
Lviv Oblast ( uk, Льві́вська о́бласть, translit=Lvivska oblast, ), also referred to as Lvivshchyna ( uk, Льві́вщина, ), ). The name of each oblast is a wikt:Appendix:Glossary#relational, relational adjective—in Englis ...
in
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
. From 1769 to 1778 he was the ''Av Bais Din'' of
Chełm
Chełm (; uk, Холм, Kholm; german: Cholm; yi, כעלם, Khelm) is a city in southeastern Poland with 60,231 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is located to the south-east of Lublin, north of Zamość and south of Biała Podlaska, some ...
.
In 1778
(or 1776
) he became the Rabbi of Kraków, a position that he held until his death on 14 June 1799.
Descendants
One of his sons Mordechai Halevi was the Rabbi of
Tykocin
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 ...
,
while his other son Tzvi Hersch David Levin held the post as the Rabbi of
Szczebrzeszyn
Szczebrzeszyn (; yi, שעברעשין, Shebreshin; uk, Щебрешин, Shchebreshyn) is a city in southeastern Poland in Lublin Voivodeship, in Zamość County, about 20km west of Zamość. From 1975–1999, it was part of the Zamość Voivo ...
before moving to Kraków to help his father in the rabbinate of Kraków. From 1799 to 1816 he held the post of acting Rabbi of Kraków, and became the Rabbi of Kraków in 1816 (the Rabbi appointed in 1800 stayed in his position for a week before leaving for
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
, thus leaving Kraków without an official Rabbi until 1816,
) a position held until his death on 18 December 1831.
"Jewish Civil Registry of Kraków", 1831, death(Akt)#422
References
1730s births
1799 deaths
18th-century Polish rabbis
Levites
{{poland-rabbi-stub