ר׳ אריה לייב גינצבורג

ר׳ אריה לייב בן ר׳ אשר גינצבורג (c. 1695–23 June 1785), conventionally known from his responsa as the Sha’agat Aryeh, was an eighteenth-century Lithuanian Talmudist, halakhic authority and rosh yeshivah. Born in Pinsk, he assisted his father after the latter became rabbi of the Minsk district and in 1733 established a major yeshivah in Minsk. His teaching there generated conflict with ר׳ יחיאל היילפרין over methods of Talmud study; although he used pilpul pedagogically, the introduction to שאגת אריה criticizes pilpul when it obscures legal truth. After leaving Minsk, he became rabbi of Volozhin in 1750 and taught students including ר׳ חיים מוולוז׳ין and ר׳ רפאל זיסקינד הכהן. שאגת אריה, prepared in Volozhin and first printed in 1755, established his enduring reputation through closely argued discussions of laws chiefly in Orach Chaim. After a period of travel he was called to Metz in 1765; royal confirmation followed in 1766. He remained its rabbi, av bet din and head of yeshivah until his death. His later טורי אבן and posthumous גבורת ארי extended his critical, source-driven analysis across several Talmudic tractates and became staples of advanced yeshivah study.