EYLENBURG, ISSACHAR BAER BEN ISRAEL LEISER PARNAS

EYLENBURG, ISSACHAR BAER BEN ISRAEL LEISER PARNAS (1550–1623), talmudist. Eylenburg was born in Posen and studied under Mordecai *Jaffe, *Judah Loew b. Bezalel (the "Maharal") of Prague, and Joshua *Falk. He served as rabbi and av bet din of Gorizia, Italy. In his Be'er Sheva (Frankfurt, 1709), he attempts to provide tosafot for those tractates which do not possess them. His halakhic method is original. Taking the actual talmudic halakhah as the basis of his discussion, he adopts a critical attitude to the commentaries of such rishonim as Isaac *Alfasi, *Rashi, and *Maimonides, not hesitating to disagree with them or even to reject them. He is opposed to philosophy, condemning Maimonides and others who "arrogated to themselves the right to read the works of sectarians." The work follows to a considerable extent the method of Judah Loew b. Bezalel in halakhah. Eylenburg also wrote Ẓeidah la-Derekh (Prague, 1623), a supercommentary to Rashi's commentary on the Pentateuch, with glosses to other supercommentaries on Rashi, including that of Elijah *Mizraḥi. His halakhic work was highly regarded by the scholars of Safed, who invited him in 1621 to serve as rabbi of the Ashkenazi community of that city, in place of Moses Da *Castellazzo whom they wished to dismiss. Eylenburg declined the invitation, only to be invited again upon Castellazzo's death, when he accepted. He died in Austerlitz on his way to Safed.

bibliography:

Azulai, 1 (1852), 115, no. 427; Perles, in: mgwj, 14 (1865), 123; S.M. Chones, Toledot ha-Posekim (1910), 59, 93–95; Gottesdiener, in: Azkarah… Kook, 4 (1937), 344; M.A. Shulvas, Roma vi-Yrushalayim (1944), 96; Benayahu, in: Tarbiz, 29 (1959/60), 73.

[Isaac Ze'ev Kahane]