R. Isaiah ben Judah Loeb Berlin, (Isaiah Pick; 1725–1799), rabbi and author. R. Berlin was known also as R. Isaiah Pick after his father-in-law, Wolf Pick of Breslau, who supported him for many years. He was born in Eisenstadt, Hungary, but his father, an eminent talmudic scholar (who later became rabbi of Pressburg), moved to Berlin where the young R. Berlin studied under him. Later he studied under R. Zevi Hirsch Bialeh (Harif), the rabbi of Halberstadt, at the latter's yeshivah. In 1755 R. Berlin moved to Breslau where he engaged in business. In 1793, when already advanced in years, he was elected to a rabbinical post, being appointed to succeed R. Isaac Joseph Te'omim as rabbi of Breslau. His election was marked by a dispute between the members of the community and the local maskilim, who had begun to organize themselves as a body and opposed R. Berlin, who, despite his love of peace, openly attacked their ideas. R. Berlin was elected by an overwhelming majority. According to hasidic sources, R. Berlin was sympathetically disposed toward that movement and extended a friendly welcome to one of its emissaries, R. Jacob Samson of Spitsevka. R. Berlin was renowned for his conciliatory attitude and for his avoidance of all disputes. Characteristically, he called a work She'elat Shalom ("A Greeting of Peace"), for "all my life I have been careful not to treat my fellow men with disrespect, even to the extent of not slighting them by faint praises." As a result of this moderation, leaders of the Breslau maskilim, such as Joel Brill and Aaron Wolfsohn, frequently visited him. Berlin corresponded on halakhic subjects with his brother-in-law R. Joseph Steinhardt, R. Ezekiel Landau of Prague, R. Eleazar b. Eleazar Kallir, and R. Ephraim Zalman Margolioth of Brody, among others. His chief claim to fame rests not on his rabbinic and halakhic but rather on his extensive literary activities devoted to glosses and textual notes on talmudic literature. He commented on the Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, Alfasi, Maimonides, the Arukh, and the whole corpus of the earlier halakhic authorities. Of his collated texts, in which he notes parallel passages and variant readings, the most important is that on the Talmud, entitled Masoret ha-Shas ("Talmud Tradition"), which supplements an earlier work by Joseph Samuel, rabbi of Frankfort. First published at Dyhernfurth (1800–04), it has since been printed in every edition of the Talmud. R. Berlin not only cites parallel passages, but also amends and compares texts, displaying an acute critical faculty and a profound grasp of history.

דף [5-3]: הקדמת המביא הספר לבית הדפוס וחידושים בתענית, דף ב. אותיות א-כ בלבד. הסכמה: ר' זלמן ב"ר אברהם טיקטין, ברעסלויא, טו כסלו תקצ"א.

ביאור הערוך נקרא בשם הפלאה שבערכין ... ובאו עליו נוספות...מכ"י קדמונים מאת... מו"ה שמואל דוד לוצאטו נר"ו ומאת...מו"ה שמעון הורוויץ...בשם חדושי מהרש"ה. הוציא... לאור אריה ליב בן מהור"ר עזריאל ראזענקראנץ איש פולאניא...[חלק א-ב].

[חלק א]: א - כ. הוצאת Oskar Leiner. ד"ס. דף [4-3]: הקדמה בגרמנית, מאת AD. Jellinek [חלק ב]: ל - ת. דף [6-5]: הקדמת המביא לבית הדפוס. "וקניתי את הכ"י [חלק ב] מר' יהודה ליב גאטטשטיין חתן המוציא לאור ח"ר [חלק ראשון]" (דף [6,א]). דף קיד-קכ: הוספות...שד"ל. [1], ז דף, עם שער מיוחד: שכחת המלקט לס' הפלאה שבערכין מהמחבר עצמו אשר מצא המלקט את עמריו רשום הנה והנה ותוספות הערות וחדושים מהרב...מו"ה שמעון הלוי איש הורוויטץ מזאגר חדש...בשם חידושי מהרש"ה.