Rabbi Yitzchak Shmelkes—the Beit Yitzchak רבי יצחק שמעלקיש — בית יצחק
rabbi of Lvov; author of the Beit Yitzchak responsa
He was born at Lvov in 1828 and studied under Rabbi Yosef Shaul Natanzon, author of the Shoel uMeshiv. He was rabbi at Beregszász and at Przemyśl, and from 1894 at Lvov, at the head of one of the largest communities of Galicia, until his death.
His responsa are the Beit Yitzchak on all four parts of the Shulchan Aruch, six volumes; the rabbis of Galicia, Hungary and Poland turned to him. In 1895 he was among the first to examine the question of electric light on the Sabbath and ruled that the filament of a lamp is not fire in the sense of the Torah, yet lighting it is forbidden by the sages; from his answer began an argument that the poskim carry on to this day. He also stood for the community against the authorities when state examinations for rabbis were introduced in Galicia.
He died at Lvov in 1906.
Places
Related
Sources
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- The Beit Yitzchak—responsa — the six volumes; the answer on electricity, Yoreh Deah 120
Scholarship
- The standard reference works and encyclopedias — Lvov 1828, disciple of Natanzon, Przemyśl, Lvov from 1894, 1906
- The register of the Galician rabbinate — the rabbinical examinations and the stand for the community
Basis: documents and evidence.