Eliezer Heilbut

Rabbi Eliezer Lazi served as a Dayan in Posen, then as Rosh Beth Din (Chief Justice) of "AHU" (an acronym for Altona, Hamburg and Wandsbek).

Biography

Rabbi Eliezer Lazi, author of ‘’”Mishnas DeRebbi Eliezer”’’ was born in Berlin in 1744 to his father Rabbi Yosef Heilbut who was the son of the Kabbalist Rabbi Lazi Chosid of Halberstadt, after whom he was named. He had an ailing childhood, nevertheless was a child prodigy. In his teens he studied in the Yeshiva of Rabbi David Tebele Scheuer in Bamberg. He married Beila the daughter of Tauderes Mink, a respected member of the Jewish Kehilla in Posen. Then he studied for two years in the Yeshiva of Rabbi Gedalia Tiktin Rabbi of Shverzentz close by to Posen, and his father in law supported him. In Posen he taught students, then was appointed as Dayan there. At that time Rabbi Refual Hacohen was rabbi of Posen. When Rabbi Refual Hacohen was accepted as Rabbi of the three cities acronymed "AHU", Rabbi Eliezer Lazi followed him there. In 1784 he was appointed as Dayan of Wandsbek. In 1799, after Rabbi Rabbi Refual Hacohen left his position as rabbi of "AHU", Rabbi Eliezerr Lazi was appointed as "Rosh Beth Din" (Chief Justice) there. In the Napoleonic wars, he was the liaison between these three cities and Napoleons general Louis Davout. He died in Hamburg in 1814 (1 Shevat 5574 on the Hebrew calendar) and because of the siege on the city he was buried on the grounds of the Synagogue there.