Avraham Danzig
Polish rabbi
Avraham ben Yehiel Michael Danzig (Hebrew: אברהם דנציג; 1748–1820) was a rabbi, posek (legal decisor) and codifier, best known as the author of the works of Jewish law called Chayei Adam and Chochmat Adam. He is sometimes referred to as "the Chayei Adam".
Biography
Danzig was born in Danzig (Gdańsk), Poland (hence his name), in 1747 or 1748 into a prominent rabbinic family. When he was fourteen, his father sent him to study at the Prague yeshivah, after exacting a promise from him "that he would not mingle with the Moderns" who were then gradually coming into prominence through the influence of Moses Mendelssohn.
He studied in Prague for four years under Rabbi Yechezkel Landau and Rabbi Joseph Liebermann. He was then offered a position as rabbi in Vilna, but declined, earning his livelihood as a merchant (frequenting the fairs of Leipzig and Königsberg – which are referred to in his writings). Only in his later years, and after having lost almost his entire fortune through the explosion of a powder-magazine, could he be induced to accept the position of dayan in Vilna, where he served until 1812. He died there on September 12, 1820.
Danzig is one of three authorities on whom Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried based his rulings in the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch.
His descendants include Rabbi Neil Danzig and Rabbi Joseph Meyer Danzig, son of Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Danzig, who was born in Jerusalem and named after his prominent ancestor.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2909560. VIAF identifies the subject as 7801872. The Library of Congress control number is n88102152. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1748, 1820, 1747 and 1812.
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This entry incorporates text from “Avraham Danzig” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.