Judah ben Jacob Ha-Kohen

views updated

JUDAH BEN JACOB HA-KOHEN

JUDAH BEN JACOB HA-KOHEN (18th century), German rabbi. Judah served as rosh yeshivah in Berlin and was later appointed dayyan in Lissa. He carried on an extensive correspondence with Ezekiel b. Judah *Landau and Ephraim Zalman *Margolioth. All his possessions were lost in the great fire that raged in Lissa in 1767, from which however he succeeded in rescuing some of his manuscripts. His writings, relating mainly to the priesthood, include a comprehensive work in the form of novellae to the order of Kodashim, of which only the portions to the tractates Zevaḥim and Menaḥot have been published, under the titles Mareh Kohen (Frankfurt, 1776) and Minḥat Kohen (Prague, 1775, 1778, or 1788), respectively. In these two books, Judah mentions Mattenot Kehunnah, his novellae to the tractate Bekhorot, and Mishpat ha-Kelal, methodological rules for the study of the Talmud.

bibliography:

H.N. Dembitzer, Kelilat Yofi, 2 (1893), 56b; L. Lewin, Geschichte der Juden in Lissa (1904), 268f.; Michael, Or, no. 1004; A. Walden, Shem ha-Gedolim he-Ḥadash, 2 (1864), 24b no. 95.

[Elias Katz]