Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg

Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg was a 19th century German rabbi and Torah scholar. As a child he studied with the local rabbi, Zechariah Mendel, a friend of R. Akiva Eger. R. Mecklenberg was a businessman until the age of 46, when he was offered and accepted the position of rabbi in Konigsberg, East Prussia. The Jews of Konigsberg were being influenced by the Haskalah, which he strongly opposed. His Torah commentary which he wrote at this time, Haketav Vehakabbalah, attempted to refute the reformers by demonstrating the close connections between Rabbinic law and Biblical text. Together with the Malbim, he publicly denounced the Reform Judaism's 1844 Braunschweig convention. He continued to serve as Rabbi of Konigsberg for 34 years, until his death.