Ezekiel Landau

Ezekiel ben Jehuda ha-Levi Landau ( Hebrew יחזקאל לנדא, also Yechezkel and Ezekiel ben Judah Landau ; born on October 8, 1713 in Opatów , Kingdom of Poland ; died on April 29, 1793 in Prague , Kingdom of Bohemia ) was decisor of the Halacha , i.e. the Jewish legal doctrine, chief rabbi in Prague and a fighter of Sabbatianism , but also of the Enlightenment (opponent of Mendelssohn's German Pentateuch). His best-known work is the collection of responses Noda bi-Jehuda ("known in Juda").

Landau's family descends from the well-known medieval Talmudic scholar Rashi . Ezekiel Landau attended the yeshiva , the Talmud high school, in Ludmir and Brody . In 1734 he was appointed a dayan , that is, a rabbinical judge in Brody , and in 1745 he became a rabbi in Jampol, Ukraine . In Jampol he tried to settle a dispute between Jacob Emden and Jonathan Eybeschütz , the " Emden-Eybeschütz Controversy ". This dispute "disrupted the life of the Jewish community for many years". His role in this controversy was seen as "tactful" and earned him the attention and esteem of the Prague community, of which he was appointed rabbi in 1755. He also founded a yeshiva in Prague and the rabbinical author Abraham Danzig was one of his students.

Landau was not only highly regarded in his community, he was favored by government circles. Accordingly, in addition to his activities as a rabbi, he was able to mediate with the government on various occasions if anti-Semitic measures were to be initiated. Emperor Joseph II called him the “Prague Jewish Pope”, but is not supposed to have meant this in a flattering way. Landau was very critical of the social and political effects of Josephinism after the patent of tolerance was issued and condemned all changes in traditional Jewish teaching as propagated by Hartwig Wessely or Moses Mendelssohn . He advocated training in profane sciences and languages, but strictly rejected any influence of the Enlightenment on religious issues.

literature

Constantin von Wurzbach : Landau, Ezekiel . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 14th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1865, p. 68 f. ( Digitized version ).
Franz Menges: Landau, Ezekiel. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-428-00194-X , p. 478 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Ezechiel Landau - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Ezekiel ben Judah Landau in the Jewish Encyclopedia
Yechezkel Landau - The Nodah Biyehudah Jewish Virtual Library
Shevaḥ ṿe-hodaʼah ʻal hatslaḥot adonenu ha-Ḳesar Yozef ha-sheni Digitized book in the library of the Leo Baeck Institute

Individual evidence

^ Václav Maidl: The Beginnings of Jewish Emancipation in Bohemia in the 1840s. In: Marek Nekula, Walter Kosiminal (ed.): Jews between Germans and Czechs. Linguistic and cultural identities in Bohemia 1800–1945 (= publications of the Collegium Carolinum. 104). Oldenbourg, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-486-20039-9 , pp. 1–18, here p. 4.
↑ Hillel J. Kieval: Caution's Progress: The Modernization of Jewish Life in Prague 1780-1830. In: Jacob Katz (Ed.): Toward modernity. The European Jewish model. Transaction Books, New Brunswick NJ et al. 1987, ISBN 0-88738-092-1 , pp. 71-105, here pp. 83-85.

personal data
SURNAME	Landau, Ezekiel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Landau, Ezekiel ben Yehuda; Landau, Yechezkel ben Yehuda; Landau, Ezekiel ben Judah
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Jewish law teacher and chief rabbi in Prague
DATE OF BIRTH	October 8, 1713
PLACE OF BIRTH	Opatów , Kingdom of Poland
DATE OF DEATH	April 29, 1793
Place of death	Prague , Kingdom of Bohemia

[1] Václav Maidl: The Beginnings of Jewish Emancipation in Bohemia in the 1840s. In: Marek Nekula, Walter Kosiminal (ed.): Jews between Germans and Czechs. Linguistic and cultural identities in Bohemia 1800–1945 (= publications of the Collegium Carolinum. 104). Oldenbourg, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-486-20039-9 , pp. 1–18, here p. 4.

[2] Hillel J. Kieval: Caution's Progress: The Modernization of Jewish Life in Prague 1780-1830. In: Jacob Katz (Ed.): Toward modernity. The European Jewish model. Transaction Books, New Brunswick NJ et al. 1987, ISBN 0-88738-092-1 , pp. 71-105, here pp. 83-85.