Rabbi Yechiel Heilprin (Seder Hadoroth)

Jehiel ben Solomon Heilprin (ca. 1660–ca. 1746) was a Lithuanian rabbi, kabbalist, and chronicler---he was one of the most eminent Talmudists of his time, a descendant of Solomon Luria, and traced his genealogy back through Rashi to the Tanna, Johanan ha-Sandlar.

R. Jehiel b. Solomon Heilprin (1660–1746), Lithuanian talmudic scholar and historian. R. Heilprin, the son of the rabbi of Sokolov, studied Kabbalah and, according to legend, performed miracles. He served as rabbi first in Glussk (Bobruisk district), where his compilation of rules and regulations for the hevra kaddisha were preserved in his own manuscript for several generations.

In 1711 he was appointed head of the yeshivah in Minsk. His method of teaching the Talmud, contrary to pilpul, caused friction between him and R. Aryeh Leib b. Asher Gunzberg, who was also a rosh yeshivah in Minsk. R. Aryeh Leib later left Minsk, and R. Heilprin was able to continue in his own yeshivah, unhampered, and with the affection of his pupils.

He was rabbi of Glusk, government of Minsk, until 1711, when he was called to the rabbinate of Minsk, where he officiated also as head of the yeshibah until his death.

Heilprin was one of the most eminent Talmudists of his time. He was opposed to casuistry, and on this account succeeded in grouping around him a great number of liberal-minded pupils. For a long time he had to sustain a hard struggle with Aryeh Löb ben Asher, who, while still a young man, had founded a yeshibah at Minsk, which at first was very flourishing. Aryeh Löb attacked Heilprin's method of teaching, and the antagonism between them spread to their pupils. Later, Aryeh Löb, being obliged to assist his father in the district rabbinate, neglected his yeshibah, which was ultimately closed, and Heilprin was no longer molested.

Heilprin devoted a part of his time to the study of Kabala, on which subject he wrote a work. He was opposed to giving approbations to new books, deviating, as he himself says, only twice from his general principle in this regard. The two works so favored were the Ir Ḥomah of Abraham Judah Elijah and the Magen ha-Elef of Aryeh Löb of Plock.

Seder ha-Dorot (Karlsruhe, 1769), is divided into three parts:

a) chronology of events and personages dated from the Creation to 1696;

b) the biographies and chronologies of the tannaim and amoraim in alphabetical order;

c) the names of Hebrew authors and books, listed alphabetically, up to the Author's period.

In the first part of this work he made use of stories from the Sefer ha-Yashar and the earlier chronological books, including Zemah David by R. David Gans, Sefer Yuhasin by R. Abraham Zacuto, and Shalsft ha-Kabbalah by R. Gedaliah ibn Yahya.

In the third part he used Siftei Yeshenim by R. Shabbetai Bass; R. Heilprin copied the list of books from this work with all its errors.

The second part, devoted to the history of the tannaim and amoraim, is of utmost importance.

Although R. Heilprin followed Sefer Yuhasin in compiling the list of individuals, the history he wrote was the first modern-type biography of the tannaim and amoraim, being based on original research of the talmudic sources. In the introduction to his book R. Heilprin discussed the importance of the history of the tannaim to halakhic decisions.

Seder ha-Dorot was published (Lemberg, 1858) with comments by R. Joseph Saul Nathanson, the rabbi of Lemberg. An improved edition of the book with a preface was later published by Naphtali Maskil le-Eitan (Maskileison; Warsaw, 1878). R. Heilprin also published annotations to the Babylonian Talmud (Vilna, 1880); Erkhei Kinnuyim (Dyhernfurth, 1806), a work similar to a concordance, listing the nouns and verbs in the Bible and Talmud: a new edition entitled Kav Shalom with notes and comments (letters (A-H) was published by S. Z. Adler (Satu Mare, 1939).

Seder ha-Dorot

Heilprin is especially known through his Seder ha-Dorot. This work consists of three independent volumes or parts:

The first of these, entitled Yemot 'Olam, is a history from the Creation down to his own time. The author always endeavors to give, by means of calculation, the dates of Biblical personages. He bases his work on the Yuḥasin of Abraham Zacuto, on the Shalshelet ha-Ḳabbalah of Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya, and on the Ẓemaḥ Dawid of David Gans. It seems that this first part was written when the author was still young, for the last event which he registered was one occurring in 1697.

The second part, Seder ha-Tanna'im weha-Amora'im, contains lists of the Tannaim and Amoraim in alphabetical order with their dates.

The third part is a kind of catalogue containing first the names of all the authors, then those of their works, both arranged in alphabetical order. Heilprin based this part on the Sifte Yeshenim of Shabbethai Bass, but added a great number of other titles. He states in the preface the many advantages of a knowledge of the chronological order of the Talmudists, which indeed in certain cases is absolutely necessary.

The whole work is followed by notes on the Talmud, also arranged in alphabetical order. It was published for the first time by Heilprin's grandson, Judah Löb Heilprin, at Carlsruhe in 1769. There exist several other editions, the latest being the revised one of Naphtali Maskileison, son of Abraham Maskileison Warsaw, 1882.

Of Heilprin's numerous other works mentioned in the Seder ha-Dorot, the only one which has been published is Erke ha-Kinnuyim, a dictionary of synonyms and homonyms occurring in the Bible, Talmud, and other works, chiefly cabalistic (Dyhernfurth, 1806).

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

De Rossi, Dizionario, i.166;

Naphtali Maskileison in the preface to his edition of the Seder ha-Dörot, as above;

Benzion Eisenstadt, Rabbane Minsk, pp. 14–16, Wilna, 1898.

http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=28302&st=&pgnum=21

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alternate date d. 1746

הגאון רבי יחיאל הלפרין אב"ד מינסק, מחבר הספר 'סדר הדורות'

משפחת הלפרן נחשבה לאחת המשפחות המיוחסות והאצילות. אחד מאבותיה, רבי יחיאל הלפרן ממינסק, בעל ״סדר הדורות״, הוכיח על־ידי תעודות־יחס היסטוריות שהוא מחוטר גזעו של דוד מלך ישראל .

ראה

יחיאל בן שלמה הַיְילְפְּרִין (כנראה ה'ת"כ, 1660 – ה'תק"ו, 1746) היה רב, ראש ישיבה והיסטוריון של תולדות ישראל. נודע בספרו "סדר הדורות".

יחיאל היילפרין היה בנו של רבי שלמה היילפרין, שהיה רבה הראשי של העיר סוקולוב. הוא היה מצאצאי המהרש"ל, וב"סדר הדורות" טוען המחבר כי בידו ספר יוחסין המונה את אבותיו דרך רש"י, עבור ביוחנן הסנדלר ורבן גמליאל ועד דוד המלך.

היה רב בהְלוּסְק שבמחוז בּוֹבּרוּיְסְק ואף כתב את תקנות החברה קדישא המקומית, שנשמרו בכתב ידו. מאז 1711 ועד יום מותו היה ראש ישיבה במינסק, ואף רבה של עיר זו. התפרסם בזכות ספרו "סדר הדורות", ספר היסטורי המבוסס על מקורות מסורתיים בלבד, אם כי היה ידוע גם כתלמיד חכם וכמקובל. נקלע לחיכוכים עם אריה ליב בן-אשר גינצבורג ("השאגת אריה"), מייסד הישיבה במינסק; המחלוקת פשתה בין התלמידים והשלום הושב על כנו רק עם עזיבתו של האחרון.

בהתאם לצוואתו עברה רבנות מינסק לבנו משה, אב"ד דאלהינוב. בנו האחר, ישעיה, היה אב"ד ויטקוב, ונכדו משה, בנו של ישעיה – אב"ד ברדיצ'ב.

(מתוך ויקיפדיה)