יצחק אליהו לנדא

Rav Yitzchak Eliyahu ben Shmuel Landau (5561/1801–5637/1876), known in English sources as Isaac Elijah Landau, was a darshan, a commentator on Tanach and midrash, and a communal worker. He was born in Vilna, and at eighteen he settled in Dubno, his wife’s town, where he built a prosperous business while giving derashot in the batei knesset on Shabbat and yom tov that drew large crowds. His power of speech brought the kehillot of Volhynia to choose him as their man on the rabbinical commission convened by the emperor in 5621/1861, work that kept him five months in St. Petersburg. In 5628/1868 he was called to Vilna as darshan and dayan, a position he held until his passing, and there he opened a kosher kitchen for Jewish soldiers.

Many authors sought his haskamah, and he was himself a prolific writer. His Maaneh Eliyahu (Vilna 5600/1840) is a commentary on Tanna d’Vei Eliyahu, carrying alongside it notes titled Siach Yitzchak; on the Mechilta he wrote a double commentary (Vilna 5604/1844), Berurei HaMiddot on the text itself and Mitzui HaMiddot on the pesukim and Talmudic passages it cites. He commented on Mishlei in Patshegen, on Masechet Soferim in Mikra Soferim, on the daily tefillot in Dover Shalom, on Trei Asar and Tehillim in Kiflayim l’Tushiyah, and on the Chamesh Megillot and then the Chumash in Patshegen HaDat (Vilna 5630/1870 and 5632–5635/1872–75).

He wrote as well Acharit l’Shalom on the Haggadah shel Pesach, Derech Chayim on Derech Eretz Zuta, and Lishmoa kaLimudim on the aggadot of the Gemara, and published a collection of his derashot under the title Derushim l’Chol Cheftzeihem. Among his hespedim that came to print is the one he gave over Rav Shmuel Strashun. His commentary on the machzor, Simlah Chadashah, was printed within the Vilna editions of the machzor itself.