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Historical-chronological book printed for the Holocaust survivors in the liberation camps. Seder ha-Dorot (Karlsruhe, 1769), is divided into three parts: a) chronology of events and personages dated from the Creation to 1696; b) the biographies and chronologies of the tannaim and amoraim in alphabetical order; c) the names of Hebrew authors and books, listed alphabetically, up to the Author's period. In the first part of this work he made use of stories from the Sefer ha-Yashar and the earlier chronological books, including Zemah David by R. David Gans, Sefer Yuhasin by R. Abraham Zacuto, and Shalsft ha-Kabbalah by R. Gedaliah ibn Yahya. In the third part he used Siftei Yeshenim by R. Shabbetai Bass; R. Heilprin copied the list of books from this work with all its errors. The second part, devoted to the history of the tannaim and amoraim, is of utmost importance. Although R. Heilprin followed Sefer Yuhasin in compiling the list of individuals, the history he wrote was the first modern-type biography of the tannaim and amoraim, being based on original research of the talmudic sources. In the introduction to his book R. Heilprin discussed the importance of the history of the tannaim to halakhic decisions.
R. Jehiel b. Solomon Heilprin (1660–1746), Lithuanian talmudic scholar and historian. R. Heilprin, the son of the rabbi of Sokolov, studied Kabbalah and, according to legend, performed miracles. He served as rabbi first in Glussk (Bobruisk district), where his compilation of rules and regulations for the hevra kaddisha were preserved in his own manuscript for several generations. In 1711 he was appointed head of the yeshivah in Minsk. His method of teaching the Talmud, contrary to pilpul, caused friction between him and R. Aryeh Leib b. Asher Gunzberg, who was also a rosh yeshivah in Minsk. R. Aryeh Leib later left Minsk, and R. Heilprin was able to continue in his own yeshiva, unhampered, and with the affection of his pupils.
Seder ha-Dorot was published (Lemberg, 1858) with comments by R. Joseph Saul Nathanson, the rabbi of Lemberg. An improved edition of the book with a preface was later published by Naphtali Maskil le-Eitan (Maskileison; Warsaw, 1878). R. Heilprin also published annotations to the Babylonian Talmud (Vilna, 1880); Erkhei Kinnuyim (Dyhernfurth, 1806), a work similar to a concordance, listing the nouns and verbs in the Bible and Talmud: a new edition entitled Kav Shalom with notes and comments (letters (A-H) was published by S. Z. Adler (Satu Mare, 1939). |
