Rav Yechezkel HaLevi Landau of Prague

Early years

Rav Yechezkel HaLevi Landau zt"l, known throughout the Jewish world as the Noda B'Yehuda after his sefer, was born in Opatow, Poland, in 5474 (1713). His father was Rav Yehuda, and the family traced its lineage back to Rashi. His mother's name was Chayah.

Until the age of thirteen he learned Torah with Rav Yitzchok HaLevi of Ludmir and with the Rav of Opatow, Rav Moshe Yaakov of Krakow. The Rav was fond of the boy with the sharp mind, and the two of them discussed difficult questions in the Gemara together.

At fourteen he went to Brody and learned with devoted young men there. At eighteen he married Liebe, the daughter of Rav Yaakovka of Dubno, and went to live with his father-in-law. Before long he persuaded his father-in-law to move to Brody, a town full of sages and scholars, where he was welcomed among the Sages of the Kloiz, the famous beis medrash of great talmidei chachamim. He was appointed a dayan (rabbinical judge) in Brody in 1734.

Torah and leadership

In 5506 (1745) Rav Yechezkel became Rav of Jampol, where he remained for six years. There he tried to bring peace to the bitter dispute between Rav Yaakov Emden and Rav Yonason Eybeschutz, which had troubled Jewish communal life for years. Rav Emden had accused Rav Yonason of secret Sabbatean leanings, based on amulets Rav Yonason had written. Rav Yechezkel proposed a compromise: the amulets would be put away, Rav Yonason would write no more, all accusations would cease, and no further polemics would be published. His tactful handling of the matter brought him to the attention of the community of Prague, which called him to be its Rav.

In Prague he led a great yeshivah that drew so many talmidim that he had to teach them in the yard of the main shul. He gave a Gemara shiur every day, and on Fridays he taught the weekly parshah with Rashi. He loved his talmidim as a father loves his children and rejoiced in their success. Among them were Rav Avrohom Danzig, author of Chayei Adam, and Rav Eliezer Fleckeles.

Rav Yechezkel taught that, in Torah and in mussar alike, what counts is not abstract study but action, not the discussion but the conclusion. Again and again in his responsa and lectures he returned to the point that the essential thing is not to deny oneself or fast, but to do good deeds. Like a faithful shepherd he also gave himself to the needs of the community. He made enactments, dealt with government ministers and emperors, and built institutions of tzedakah and chesed, and every area of Jewish life advanced according to his rulings. He was held in high esteem by the community and also in government circles, and he intervened with the authorities when harsh measures against the Jews were introduced.

His own conduct was far stricter than what he asked of others. His talmid Rav Eliezer Fleckeles testified that, even in old age, he did not sleep in a bed but rested his head on a bed and his body on some chairs. He wore coarse haircloth on his body and taught standing. From the seventeenth of Tammuz until the beginning of Av he ate no animal products, and from Rosh Chodesh Av until Tishah B'Av he ate only dry bread.

Stands for Torah

Rav Yechezkel was a champion of Torah Judaism in a changing age. He was not opposed to secular knowledge, but he objected to the culture that came from Berlin, in particular Moses Mendelssohn's translation of the Chumash. He spoke out against the study of heretical philosophy and singled out Hartwig Wessely for criticism after Wessely published Divrei Shalom V'Emes, which called for replacing the traditional Jewish school system with one centered on secular studies.

When, near the end of the eighteenth century, the Austrian emperor planned to set up Jewish theological seminaries, Rav Yechezkel was among the rabbanim who objected. He exchanged letters on the subject with Baruch Jeiteles, who published them in Vienna in 1795 under the title Ha-Orev.

He was also active against the Sabbatean movement. His approach was to counter open Sabbateanism firmly while not pursuing those who kept their views hidden, and to weaken the appeal of Kabbalah, whose study often drew people toward the movement. Rav Yaakov Emden disagreed and urged a far more aggressive course. Rav Yechezkel often spoke against teaching Kabbalah to the masses, and his talmid Rav Eliezer Fleckeles did the same. When asked about matters with no source in the Gemara, he would often answer that it was not his way to study any matter not discussed in the Gemara. In his Derushei HaTzlach he explained why, in his view, the Zohar could not be treated as reliable, since it reached the Jewish people many hundreds of years after Rashbi and lacked an unbroken mesorah. In one responsum he also criticized the growing Chassidic movement of his day.

Teachings and seforim

His main work is his collection of responsa, Noda B'Yehuda, named after Tehillim 76:2 and his father's name. It is one of the principal sources of halachah of its age and is esteemed for its logic and for its independence of the other Acharonim, together with its steady loyalty to the Rishonim. Among its famous rulings is the one limiting autopsy to cases of clear and present danger to known others.

He also wrote Tziyun L'Nefesh Chayah, known as the Tzlach, on the Gemara, named for his mother, Chayah; Dagul MeiRevavah on the Shulchan Aruch; Derushei HaTzlach, a collection of sermons; Ahavas Tzion; and Doresh L'Tzion. His responsa under the title Shivas Tzion, together with Ahavas Tzion and Doresh L'Tzion, were published in Prague in 1827 by his son, Rav Shmuel Landau, the chief dayan of Prague.

Later years and passing

Rav Yechezkel passed away in Prague on 17 Iyar 5553 (1793). He instructed that praises and eulogies not be multiplied at his funeral, that no large headstone be placed on his grave, and that no grand titles be carved on it. Even today his name shines like a star in the heavens of Torah, and people still turn to his seforim for guidance.