CHAJES, ISAAC BEN ABRAHAM

CHAJES, ISAAC BEN ABRAHAM (1538–c. 1615), rabbi of Prague. Chajes was appointed to this position in 1584 after having been rabbi of Prossnitz, but he was not, as his grandson Jehiel Hillel Altschuler, author of Meẓudat David, and some of his other grandsons maintained, also rabbi at Lemberg and Cracow. He may have received calls to these positions but declined them. The historian David *Gans, his contemporary, referred to him as "the great rabbi, renowned throughout the Diaspora, who has raised many pupils and has spread a knowledge of the Torah among Jews." He followed the pilpulistic method of Jacob *Pollak and was severely criticized by Jair Ḥayyim *Bacharach, who in his Ḥavvat Ya'ir wrote of Chajes that "anyone who reads what this person has written in the introduction to his works will testify and see how he has blundered, may the Lord save us." The precise date of his death is unknown; the exact date given by some, 18 Elul 1613, cannot be substantiated. All that is known is that in 1615 he was no longer alive. His sons were monish, av bet din of Vilna, abraham, author of Holekh Tammim (Cracow, 1634), and eliezer of Prague.

Isaac Chajes was the author of Paḥad Yiẓḥak on the aggadot in tractate Gittin (Lublin, 1573); Si'aḥ Yiẓḥak, laws for Passover night in rhyme, with commentary (Prague, 1587; 1905); Penei Yiẓḥak (Cracow, 1591), the laws of Yoreh De'ah in rhyme with a commentary. This work is quoted by all commentators on the Shulḥan Arukh. Chajes also mentions in his writings other unpublished works: Kiryat Arba and Matammei Yiẓḥak.

bibliography:

C.J.K. Kraushaar, Be'er Ya'akov, 2 (1930), postscript by H.I. Gross; I. Brickenstein (ed.), Psalms with commentary by Isaac Chajes (1950), introd.; Klemperer, in: hj, 12 (1950), 365, 42; S.J. Fuenn, Kiryah Ne'emanah (1915²), 67–70 (on Monish Chajes).

[Yitzchak Arad]