Aaron ben Benjamin Wolf (about 1670 – July 25, 1721) was a Rabbi at Berlin and then at Frankfort-on-the-Oder, where he lived until his death. His father, Isaac Benjamin Wolf ben Eliezer Liebman, author of ''Naḥlat Binyamin'' (Amsterdam, 1682), rabbi in the mark of

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

, was the brother of the court Jew Jost Liebmann, who played a prominent part in the congregation of Berlin in the earliest period of its history. Aaron married Resel, the daughter of his uncle, who founded for him a Talmudical school and supported not only Aaron but also his disciples. In 1697, when the declining health of Shemariah, then rabbi of Berlin, necessitated the appointment of a successor, Aaron was made rabbi of the mark, and in 1709 was appointed by King

Frederick I of Prussia Frederick I (; 11 July 1657 – 25 February 1713), of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was (as Frederick III) List of margraves and electors of Brandenburg, Elector of Brandenburg (1688–1713) and Duke of Prussia in personal union (Brandenburg–Pr ...

to the office of chief rabbi of Berlin, with jurisdiction over all the Jews living in the mark. But with the death of King Frederick I conditions changed. Esther, the widow of Jost Liebman, fell into disfavor with Frederick William I, her property was confiscated, and she died of a broken heart in 1714. These reverses made it impossible for Aaron to maintain his students; and the factions in the congregation of Berlin caused him constant anxiety, especially since he had always sided with his wife's family, which was very unpopular with the community. He was finally forced to leave Berlin and went to Frankfort-on-the-Oder, where he officiated as rabbi until his death. He left some works, though none has been printed. He wrote several approbations (') to books, published in Berlin, notably that to the first edition of

Samuel ben Meir Samuel ben Meir (Troyes, c. 1085 – c. 1158), after his death known as the "Rashbam", a Hebrew acronym for RAbbi SHmuel Ben Meir, was a leading French Tosafist and grandson of Shlomo Yitzhaki, "Rashi". Biography He was born in the vicinity of ...

's commentary on the

Pentateuch 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 () o ...

(1705), the manuscript of which was in the possession of David Oppenheimer, to whom he was related by marriage. His approbation of

Nehemiah Ḥayyun Nehemiah Hiyya ben Moses Hayyun (, – ) was a Bosnian Kabbalist linked to Sabbateanism. His parents, who were Sephardic Jews, lived in Sarajevo in the Ottoman Empire, where he was most likely born; later in life, he pretended that he was a ''me ...

's cabalistic work, Oz le-Elohim'' (1712), caused him great annoyance, because of the charges of heresy brought against the work, which he, like David Oppenheimer, had endorsed without reading. In Berlin his brother-in-law Michael Ḥasid succeeded him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf, Aaron ben Benjamin 17th-century German rabbis Year of birth unknown 1721 deaths Year of birth uncertain 18th-century German rabbis