הרב ישראל ליפשיץ

Rav Yisrael Lipschitz (5542/1782–3 Tishrei 5621/1860), the author of the Tiferes Yisrael on the Mishnah, was among the leading chachmei Ashkenaz of his day. Son of Rav Gedalya Lipschitz, he learned under his father and under Rav Akiva Eiger in Posen, and served as av beis din in Dessau and in the districts of Danzig. He lived as an ascetic, given to fasts of three consecutive days spent in uninterrupted learning, and was niftar during the davening on Tzom Gedalya of 5621.

His Tiferes Yisrael keeps close to pshat and halacha while offering original chiddushim, and adds ordered introductions and summaries to several sedarim and masechtos. In its second edition, prepared by his son Rav Baruch Yitzchak Lipschitz, the commentary was divided into two parts named for the two pillars of the Beit HaMikdash — Yachin, the plain explanation, and Boaz, the analytical — and the Mishnah printed with it is known as Mishnayos Yachin uBoaz. He wove much of the science of his time into the commentary, most notably in the essay Derush Ohr HaChaim, printed at the end of Seder Nezikin, which treats the age of the universe and the immortality of the soul. The Tiferes Yisrael is included in many standard printed editions of the Mishna.