ר׳ נתנאל וייל

ר׳ נתנאל בן ר׳ נפתלי צבי וייל (1687–1769), remembered as the בעל קרבן נתנאל, was a leading German-Bohemian Talmudist, rosh yeshiva and regional rabbi. Born in Stühlingen into a learned family descended from ר׳ יעקב וייל (מהרי״ו), he was orphaned young: his father and a brother were murdered in 1692. At ten he was taken to Fürth and then sent to Prague, where his uncle ר׳ ליפמן וייל raised him. He studied under ר׳ אברהם ברודא, who later arranged his marriage to a niece, פייגלא, in 1708. ר׳ נתנאל accompanied his teacher westward before returning to Prague in 1717. There he served as an assistant rabbi and prominent yeshiva teacher, reportedly educating a very large body of students. Maria Theresa’s expulsion of Prague’s Jews in 1744 forced another migration. In 1745 he became regional rabbi of the Black Forest communities, based at Mühringen, and in 1750 was appointed chief regional rabbi of the Baden-Baden and Baden-Durlach territories at Karlsruhe. He completed קרבן נתנאל there and published it in 1755—the first Hebrew book printed in Karlsruhe. Its precise textual and halakhic commentary on the rulings of ר׳ אשר בן יחיאל for the Talmudic orders מועד and נשים became standard in editions of the Talmud. He died during a visit to Rastatt and was buried in Karlsruhe. His son ר׳ ידידיה טיאה וייל succeeded him and helped preserve his writings.