Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg

Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg (יעקב צבי מקלנבורג) was a Ashkenazi

Biography

He was born in 1785 (5545 in the Hebrew calendar) in Lissa (

R. Mecklenburg initially thereafter went into business. In 1831, at the age of 46, following commercial difficulties, he decided to quit business and was offered the rabbinical position in the city of Königsberg, East Prussia. At that time, Königsberg Jews were under the increasing influence of the Haskalah, a reform movement, which Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg strongly opposed.^[1] Together with the Malbim, he publicly opposed Reform Judaism's 1844 Braunschweig convention. In the same period, he wrote Haketav VehaKabbalah, his own commentary to the Torah.

He served as Rabbi in Königsberg, for the rest of his life, for 34 years (1831–65). Before his death, he ordered that no

In the opinion of others, Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi studied directly under Rabbi Akiva Eiger.^[citation needed] He mentions in his Haketav VehaKabbaleh Rabbi A. Eiger a few times as 'my Mentor and Teacher'. Example: In Leviticus 27:32, he states: I asked my Mentor and Teacher Rabbi Akiva Eger, etc.

Works

Haketav VehaKabbalah (alt. HaKsav VeHaKabalah; Heb. הכתב והקבלה: The Written [Torah] and the [Oral] Tradition) was first published in 1839. Mecklenburg's intent was "to demonstrate the indivisibility of the written Torah and its counterpart, the

• Iyun Tefillah - a commentary on the Siddur, usually coupled with Derech HaChaim written by R. Yaakov Lorberbaum of Lisa.
• Hishtapchut HaNefesh -
  viduy (confessional prayers) for the eve of Yom Kippur
  .