Ludza / Lucin
Born in 56311) (1871) in the city of Vizun, district of Kovna, to his father the rabbi mentioned above.
He received Torah from his father, who was his primary teacher. Afterward he studied at the Volozhin yeshiva and at the kollel in Kovna. He was ordained for halakhic rulings by R. Tzvi Hirsh Rabinowitz, rabbi of Kovna; R. Moshe Danishevsky, rabbi of Slobodka; and R. Tzvi Hirsh Ma Yafit, rabbi of Līvāni and Vilkoviski.
Son-in-law of his great-uncle R. Yitzchak Zioni, rabbi of Rēzekne.
In the years 5660–5686 (1900–1926) he served as rabbi of Viļaka, and from 5686 (1926) filled his father's place here.
He perished here in the Holocaust on 25 Menachem Av 5701 (18 August 1941) and was brought to rest in the cemetery here.
Author of the book Lekutei Megadim, “a collection of explanations in the Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim with its commentators and a collection of laws from hundreds of books of halakhic authorities, early and late, and the treatise Badei HaShulchan, an index of all laws in every section of the Shulchan Aruch.” Printed with his father's book Ta'am Megadim.
He also composed Yachas Avot on the Megilat Yochasin of his kinsman R. Yisrael Zeligman, containing the histories of the families Don Yechiya, Zioni, Eizenshtat, Zeligman, Robinson, Levin, and others — approximately thirty — against the backdrop of the lives of the Latvian communities over the past two hundred years. The book was lost in the days of the destruction of the community of Ludza, and only a few printed pages remain — a small portion of the book — which the author sent to his family members in the Land of Israel before the complete printing. The book contains important material from ancient registers, books, periodicals, and oral traditions.
Ohalei Shem, p. 116. Yahadut Latviya, p. 290. Chakhmei Lita, p. 30.
Below — a dedication in his handwriting on his book:
May He avenge the blood of His servants \
who gave his life for the sanctification of God's Name. \
Here lies \
a chain of rabbis and geonim. \
The Rabbi R. Ben Tzion, son of the Rabbi, the Gaon \
R. Eliezer Don Yechiya. \
He composed the set table [Shulchan Aruch] \
of the Orach Chaim and vanished \
from this world at the hands of \
the Hitlerist robbers. \
His memory remains engraved \
in my heart, from our community of Ludza.
Latvia and Rabbis