Saul Lowenstam (1717 – 19 June 1790) was a renowned Dutch rabbi and

talmudist The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

.He was Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam from 1755-1790. Saul Lowenstam was born in 1717 in

Rzeszów Rzeszów ( , ) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów is the capital of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship and the county seat, seat of Rzeszów C ...

to his parents

Aryeh Leib ben Saul Aryeh Leib ben Saul Löwenstam ( – 2 April 1755) was a Jews of Poland, Polish rabbi. Life Aryeh Leib was born in in Kraków. He came of a famous family of rabbis. His father Saul had been a rabbi of Kraków from 1700 to 1704; his grandfather ...

(who was the rabbi in Rzeszów at the time) and Miriam the daughter of the Chacham Tzvi. He married Hendele, the daughter of Abraham Kahana, who was rabbi of

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

, Ukraine. His first rabbinical position was in Lokachi, Ukraine (located in the Lokachi Raion and named Lakacz in

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

), followed by Dubno, where he succeeded his father-in-law. After the death of his father in 1755, Lowenstam succeeded him as the

Chief Rabbi Chief Rabbi () is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a capitulation by Ben-Zion Meir ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, Netherlands. Lowenstam died in Amsterdam on 19 June 1790. He was succeeded as Chief Rabbi by his son, Jacob Moses Lowenstam.

Works

Lowenstam was the author of the ''Binyan Ariel'' published in Amsterdam 1778. He also authored a

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

Commentary ''HeChatzer HaChadasha'' published in Amsterdam in 1768. A pamphlet titled ''Halacha Lema'aseh Rav'' published in Amsterdam in 1828 contains his 1783 ''

halachic ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mitz ...

'' ruling asserting the ''

kashrut (also or , ) is a set of Food and drink prohibitions, dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to halakha, Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed ko ...

'' of Dutch

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

References

External links

English Translation of Binyan Ariel

Binyan Ariel online at HebrewBooks.org

HeChatzer HaChadasha online at HebrewBooks.org

Halacha Lema'aseh Rav online at HebrewBooks.org
1717 births 1790 deaths 18th-century Dutch rabbis 18th-century Polish–Lithuanian writers Chief rabbis of the Netherlands Dutch people of Polish-Jewish descent Orthodox rabbis from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Rabbis from Amsterdam People from Rzeszów 18th-century rabbis from the Russian Empire {{Netherlands-rabbi-stub