Biography
Rabbi Lorberbaum was the great-grandson of the Chacham Tzvi, Rabbi Zvi Ashkenazi; he was therefore related to Rabbi Jacob Emden. According to one tradition, his father, Rabbi Yaakov Moshe died before he was born, and his relative, Rabbi Yosef Teomim, the rabbi of Bursztyn, brought him up. This accounts for the common name that both father and son share. Another tradition states that before he was born, his father fell ill, and dreamed that he would recover in the merit of the son that would be born to him. In the merit of his future son, the father took his name-to-be. He studied under Rabbi Meshulam Igra.
He was head of the Beis Din in Kalish (Kalisz). In 1809, he agreed to become the Rav in Lissa (today known as Leszno, Poland), where he enlarged his Yeshiva's enrollment. Hundreds of scholars came to study there in the years of his leadership. Among his students were Rabbi Elijah Gutmacher, Rabbi Shraga Feivel Danziger, who were supporters of their colleague Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer, and his Chovevei Zion movement.
Along with Rabbi Akiva Eiger and Rabbi Akiva Eiger's son-in-law, the Chasam Sofer, Rabbi Lorberbaum vehemently fought against the maskilim, the reformers of the Jewish Enlightenment. In 1822, he left Lissa and returned to Kalish, where he wrote many of his works. He lived there for ten years.
He was widely respected as a posek, and is one of three authorities on whom Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried based his rulings in the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, the well known precis of Jewish law. Similarly, the Chochmat Adam, by Rabbi Avraham Danzig, was written in consultation with Rabbi Lorberbaum (as well as Rabbi Chaim Volozhin).
His status was such that it is reported that Rabbi Akiva Eiger once fainted when he was honored with an Aliyah in the lieu of Rav Yaakov. (See Shimusha Shel Torah, Rabbi Meir Tzvi Bergman.)
Rabbi Lorberbaum died in Stryj (then in Galicia) on 25 May 1832.
Read more about this topic: Yaakov Lorberbaum
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