Berlin, David ben (Judah) Loeb
BERLIN, DAVID BEN (Judah) LOEB
BERLIN, DAVID BEN (Judah) LOEB (d. 1771), German rabbi and talmudic authority. The brother of Isaiah *Berlin, he was probably born in Eisenstadt (Hungary). After serving as rabbi of Dessau and Marktbreit (Bavaria) and as chief rabbi of Schwarzburg, Berlin was appointed rabbi of the three united congregations of Altona, Hamburg, and Wandsbeck. In 1769 when the Danish government, at the instance of the Hamburg Town Council, sought to separate the Altona Jewish community from that of Hamburg, Berlin was elected a member of the delegation whose successful intercession with the Danish king resulted in the continuation of the status quo. His learned correspondence with his brother-in-law, Joseph Steinhardt, was published in the latter's work, Zikhron Yosef (eh 4:11; Ḥm 1:2); a number of his responsa have been published in Or Yisrael of Israel b. Eliezer *Lipschuetz (Cleves, 1770) and in Beit Evel u-Veit Mishteh of Samuel Palaggi (Altona, 1770). Some of his talmudic novellae and homilies are in manuscript at the Bodleian Library.
bibliography:
A. Berliner, Rabbi Jesaja Berlin (Ger., 1879), 8; Fuenn, Keneset, 227f., s.v.David b. Aryeh Leib Berlin; E. Duckesz, Ivah le-Moshav, 59–63; Neubauer, Cat, no. 526; L. Loewenstein, Index Approbationum (1923), 47, no. 825.
[Joseph Elijah Heller]