Yitzhak Chajes, ABD Prague, Prossnitz

R' Yitzchak Chajes z"l

(The name should be pronounced as it has been written by the family, Chajes, not Chajot or Chajut, even though it is written חיות. It is derived from Chaya like other names such as Sirkes, Etkes, etc. Similarly Rabbi Yair Bacharach entitled his work חות יאיר, which is a play on his name and that of his grandmother חוה, Chava. Hence even though the Biblical phrase is חַוֹּת יָאִיר Chavos or Chavot Yair, his work should be pronounced Chavas or Chaves Yair, that is Chava's Yair.)

R' Yitzchak ben Avraham Chajes served successively in the rabbinates of Prague (elected in 1583 over his brother-in-law Maharal who later succeeded him), then Prossnitz (Prostejov) in Moravia attracting numerous disciples with his erudition and saintliness. The 16th century historian, R' David Ganz, writes of him in his Tzemach David, "The great rabbi whose fame has spread throughout the Diaspora. He cultivated many disciples and furthered the knowledge of Torah."

R' Yitzchak was an adherent to the pilpul method of study that was popular in his time but has been widely rejected since then. Yair Bacharach criticized his pilpul method at the end of the seventeenth century. He is best known for his work Pnei Yitzchak which was published in 1591. The work has two parts: Apei Ravrevei, which sets the Yoreh Deah section of the Shulchan Aruch to rhyme, and Apei Zuta, a commentary on the first part. R' Yitzchak's son, R' Manish, added two elegies to this work, one on the destruction of the city of Posen by fire in 1590, and the other on the death of his own 18-year-old son. (R' Manish was rabbi of Vilna.)

R' Yitzchak also wrote Siach Yitzchak, which sets the laws of Pesach to rhyme, Pachad Yitzchak, a commentary on the passage in Tractate Gittin which deals with the destruction of the Temple, and other, as yet unpublished, works.

R' Yitzchak died on the 11th of Tammuz in approximately 1616. (Several sources state that he died in 1585. This is clearly wrong, for Tzemach David states: "He came here, to Prague, in the year [5]344 [i.e., 1584], and he was the rabbi and rosh yeshiva here for three-and-a-half years, may Hashem lengthen his days with pleasantness and may his throne become greater and loftier, higher and higher." Tzemach David was written in approximately 1592.)

'From the stock of Provencal Hassidim": This phrase appears on the title page of his 1589 sermon (see the photo). The same claim will later appear on the epitaph of his son Avraham Chajes and also cited by members of the related Altschuler family.

Rabbi Yair Bacharach writes at the end of the seventeenth century that Yitzhak Chajes, whose pilpul he criticizes, was the brother-in-law of Maharal of Prague.

Among R' Yitzchak's many prominent descendants were: R' Yitzchak Chajes, author of the Mishnah commentary, Zera Yitzchak; the 19th century Talmud commentator R' Zvi Hirsch Chajes (the "Maharitz Chayes"); and R' David Hillel Altschuler, author of the popular Tanach commentary, Metzudat David. Chief Rabbinical Judge of Prague

Great-grandfather of the Mekubal Yitzchak Chajes, AB'D of Skolye

Regarding possible connections to the Maharal

1. Incorrectly called a relative of the Maharal. (per Hebrew wikipedia), based on errors in Moses Meir Perls' Megillat Yichusin. See Putik's recent article on the Maharal. https://media.geni.com/p13/23/c3/6d/69/5344484c6dc91718/judah_loew_ben_bezalel_called_maharal_original.pdf?hash=43dff8d849df4e4d7193ec432a3b284ed3bd5e36838c61ffa2633f728b56ed7c.1741762799

But he was probably the brother-in-law of Maharal through his first wife, the daughter of Avraham Chajes, if he was identical to Yitzhak Chajes's father. As far as his second wife, Perl, Putik claims that she was not the daughter of "rich Shmelka", Samuel Sax of Prague whose daughter married Yitzhak Chajes.

Author

• http://www.hebrewbooks.org/11696
• http://www.hebrewbooks.org/24958
• http://www.hebrewbooks.org/45605
• http://www.hebrewbooks.org/44496

Listed in Toldos Avrohom, p. 464

---------------------

Jewish Dynasties

death: Lemberg, Poland/Lviv, Ukraine ??

Note: several decades after the the death of Yitzoch Chayes ABD Prague there is another Yakov Yitzach Chayes who is a Dayan and Morej Zedek in Prague: Yakov Yitzach Chajes, Dayan and Moreh Zedek of Prague

This raises the possibility that the two were related, perhaps as uncle/nephew, which would mean that Avraham Chayes is the grandfather of Yakov Yitzach.