Isaac Spitz (; 1764 – 6 May 1842) was ''

av beit din The ''av beit din'' (), abbreviated ( ''avad''), was the second-highest-ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Temple period and served as an assistant to the nasi. The av beit din was known as the "Master of the Court;" he was consid ...

'' in

Mladá Boleslav Mladá Boleslav (; ) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 47,000 inhabitants. It lies on the left bank of the Jizera (river), Jizera River. Mladá Boleslav is the second most populated city in the region. I ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

. He wrote ''Matʼame Yitzḥak'', a collection of songs, melodies, and sayings, which was published posthumously in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

in 1843.

Biography

Isaac Spitz was born in

Kolín Kolín (; ) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservations, urban monume ...

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia (), sometimes referenced in English literature as the Czech Kingdom, was a History of the Czech lands in the High Middle Ages, medieval and History of the Czech lands, early modern monarchy in Central Europe. It was the pr ...

, the son of a

Torah scribe 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 ...

. He left for

in 1779 to study at the

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

Yechezkel Landau Yechezkel ben Yehuda HaLevi Landau (8 October 1713 – 29 April 1793) was an influential authority in halakha (Jewish law). He is best known for the work ''Noda Biyhudah'' (נודע ביהודה), by which title he is also known. Biography Land ...

, during which time he studied

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language unti ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

as well as

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonie ...

's and

Lessing Lessing is a German surname of Slavic origin. The original Sorbian form, ''Lěsnik'', means either "forest dweller" or "woodman", ''lěs'' meaning "wood forest". People with the surname Lessing include a German family of writers, artists, musicians ...

's writings. He moved to

Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is the Franconia#Towns and cities, s ...

in 1785 to the yeshiva of Meshullam Solomon Kohn, and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

by the local beit din in 1792. He returned to Kolin as a pupil of Eleazar Kalir and teacher in the house of Adam Friedländer, and married Rebekka Fleckeles, daughter of

Elazar Fleckeles Elazar Fleckeles (August 26, 1754 in Prague – April 27, 1826) was a Bohemian rabbi and author. Biography Fleckeles was a pupil of and Yechezkel Landau. At the age of twenty-four he became rabbi of Kojetein, a small town in Moravia. In 1780 h ...

. He was the father of the grammarian Yom-Tov Spitz, and maternal grandfather of the poet

Moritz Hartmann Moritz Hartmann (15 October 1821 – 13 May 1872) was a Bohemian-Austrian poet, politician and author. Biography Hartmann was born of Jewish parentage at Duschnik (now Trhové Dušníky) in Bohemia. His maternal grandfather, Isaac Spitz, ser ...

References

1764 births 1842 deaths 18th-century Jews from Bohemia Hebrew-language poets People from Kolín Spitz family 19th-century Czech Jews 19th-century Czech poets 18th-century poets from Bohemia {{Judaism-bio-stub