Israel Lipschitz

File:Israel Lipschitz.jpg

Israel Lifschitz

Israel Lifschitz (Hebrew: ישראל ליפשיץ‎ (1782–1860) was a rabbi of the Acharonim era, first at Dessau and then at the Jewish Community of Danzig. He was the author of Tiferes Yisrael a well-known commentary on the Mishnah. The edition of the Mishnah containing this commentary is often referred to as "Mishnayos Yachin uBoaz". The commentary is divided into two parts, one more general and one more analytical, titled "Yachin" and "Boaz" respectively (after two large pillars in the Temple in Jerusalem). This is often considered to be one of the clearest and most useful commentaries on the Mishna. He also wrote Shevilei de'Rakiya, an introduction to the principles of Rabbinical astronomy, and Derush Ohr HaChayim (Homily on the Light of Life) which debates the eternity of the soul and the age of the universe.

He led the life of an ascetic, frequently fasted three days in succession, and studied incessantly. His ethical will contains twenty-eight paragraphs, consisting chiefly of moral and ascetic precepts. He left in manuscript many notes ("derashos") to the Shulchan Aruch and to Maimonides' (Rambam's) Mishneh Torah, a comprehensive treatise on the order Taharos, and many responsa.


Jewish Encyclopedia