Jonathan Eybeschütz | |
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Personal details | |
Born | 1690 Kraków, Poland |
Died | 1764 (aged 73–74) Altona, Holstein, Denmark–Norway |
Spouse | Elkele Spira |
Children | Wolf Jonas Eybeschutz |
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Jonathan Eybeschütz (also Eibeschutz or Eibeschitz; Kraków, 1690 – Altona, 1764), was a Talmudist, Halachist, Kabbalist, holding positions as Dayan of Prague, and later as Rabbi of the "Three Communities": Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek. With Jacob Emden, he is well known as a protagonist in the Emden–Eybeschütz Controversy.
Eybeschütz's father was the rabbi in Ivančice (German: Eibenschütz, sometimes Eibeschutz), Habsburg Moravia. Eybeschütz was a child prodigy in Talmud; on his father's death, he studied in the yeshiva of Meir Eisenstadt in Prostějov (Prossnitz), and then later in Holešov (Holleschau). He also lived in Vienna for a short time. He married Elkele Spira, daughter of Rabbi Isaac Spira, and they lived in Hamburg for two years with Mordecai ha-Kohen, Elkele's maternal grandfather. Among their descendents are the illustrious management thinker Peter Drucker and Margarethe Kelsen, the wife of Hans Kelsen.
Eybeschütz settled in Prague in 1700 and became head of the yeshivah and a famous preacher. The people of Prague held Eybeschütz in high esteem and he was considered second there only to Dayan David Oppenheim.