a rabbi, talmudist, kabbalist, and Baal Shem (worker of miracles through the Name of God). He was born in Michelstadt. He received his talmudic education in Frankfurt, in the yeshiva of Rabbi Nathan Adler, and following in the latter's footsteps, accepted an ascetic way of life and turned to kabbalistic studies. He resided in Frankfurt for a duration of six years, during which he married his first wife. About 1790, he returned with his wife to Michelstadt where he maintained a yeshiva for many years (serving as rosh yeshiva and instructing around seventy students in Tanakh, Talmud, and the works of the poskim, as well as secular subjects including German and mathematics) and served, at first unofficially, until 1822 as a recognized district rabbi.
