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against a rival. He signs: "Declared by the young
Yisoschor Ber of Lublin scholar from Lubomla."1"
That R. Yisoschor Ber was not in Luboml
before 1716 can be determined from his approbation
on M'samcheLev by Mordche Gimpel, where
he does not sign himself as the av bet din in
Luboml.
R. Yisoschor left no written works, but his
words of Torah are quoted in the Adnei Paz of
Meyer, son of R. Levi (Novidvor, 1789).
R. Yisoschor Ber's father was the Ray Gaon R.
Meyer son of Binyomen Wolff, Heilperin, who
was rabbi in Chelm, Apt, and Lublin, a son-in-law
of the Gaon R. Dovid Segal, the Taz.'"
The Gaon R. Yosef, Son of Yisroel
The next rabbinic authority in Luboml after R.
Yisoschor Ber was Rav Gaon R. Yosef, son of
Yisroel. We do not know the exact years of his
service, only that it began in the 1720s or 1730s.
There is an approbation of his on the B'chinat
Olam from the year 1741 in Luboml and on the
Lev Simcha from 1757.
In the Ledger of the Council of the Four Lands
from 1755, his signature appears with the addition
"residing in the holy community of Luboml."
We deduce that R. Yosef son of Yisroel was
rabbi in Luboml until the end of the 1750s or
beginning of the 1760s.
The Gaon R. Yitshak Isaac
In 1760-65, the Luboml rabbinate was occupied
by Rav Gaon R. Yitshak Isaac, son of Nachman.
He must have remained rabbi there until the mid-
1780s.
R. Yitshak was one of the most well-known of
the Scholars of the Kloiz of Brody, considered by
their contemporaries as "princes of men, outstanding
rabbis, scholars of wisdom of the Great
Kloiz [synagogue] of the holy community of
Brady." In this kloiz many outstanding scholars,
rabbis, and Torah luminaries would meet and
study Torah all week, including the nights, going
home only for the Sabbath.
We understand that most, if not all, of those
who frequented this well-kn.own kloiz in Brody
did not hold permanent rabbinic posts. A rabbi
cannot leave his flock for such long stretches of
THE EARLY DAYS 37
time, especially from a town like Luboml, which,
considering the modes of transportation available
in those days, was quite a long trip from
Brody.
Usually those who came to the kloiz were
great scholars who had left their rabbinic positions
and preferred to spend all their time in the
study of Torah in the company of other great
scholars.'"
In the year 1786, we find an approbation of R.
Yitshak Isaac in the Nefesh David (Lemberg,
1790), though we know someone else was there a
year earlier. It could be that both were rabbis
together for a short period in Luboml, a case of
"two kings utilizing a single crown."
Two Rabbis
From around 1785 until the end of the 18th
century, the Luboml rabbinate was considerably
confused.
Besides the previously mentioned approbation
in Luboml of Rav Gaon R. Yitshak Isaac son
of Nachman in the year 1786, there is another (for
the ToratMoshe ) dated Luboml, 1785, by a Yonah,
son of Yosef Halevi.
Ten or 15 years later, there actually was a
rabbi in Luboml with approximately the same
name, with one difference: his first name had the
addition "Yisroel." Even if this was, as we suggest,
one person, we do know that between 1787
and 1791 there was another rabbinic authority in
town.
Therefore we have no choice but to surmise
that, from 1785 unti11786, perhaps coterminously
with Yitshak Isaac son of Nachman, Gaon R.
Yonah ben Yosef Halevi was rabbi in Lubonil and
his approbation appears on the Torat Moshe.
From 1787 to 1791 the position was held by
Gaon R. Aron Yoel ben Dovid. His Luboml-dated
approbations appear in the Margaliyot HaTorah
(Poritzk, 1787) by R. Tsvi, son of Shmuel Zeynvel
and in the Damesek Eliezer (Poritzk, 1790).
R. Aran Yoel died in 1791.1"
The Gaon R. Yisroel Yona Landau
In the mid-1790s, the Luboml rabbinate was occupied
by Rav Gaon R. Yisroel Yonah Segal
Landau. He was the Luboml rabbinic authority
until 1820. In that year, he became rabbi in