R. Naftali Herz Wessely – Intellectual Profile

R. Naftali Herz Wessely
Name	R. Naftali Herz Wessely, Hartwig Wessely נפתלי הרץ וייזל
Dates	1725-1805
Location	Amsterdam, Berlin
Works	Commentaries on Bereshit, Vayikra, Levanon, Shirei Tiferet, Yein Levanon
Exegetical Characteristics
Influenced by	R. Shelomo Zalman Henau, R. Yehonatan Eybeschutz
Impacted on

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Name – Hartwig Wessely
- Hebrew name – Naftali Herz ben Yissachar Baer Veizel
Dates – 1725-1805
Location – Wessely was born in Hamburg, lived in Copenhagen and Amsterdam, and then moved to Berlin in 1774, where he lived for 30 years. In the last year of his life he moved back to Hamburg to live with his daughter, and died there.
Occupation – Wessely worked as a broker / agent for a number of wealthy European families
Family –
Teachers – Wessely spoke of two notable teachers: R. Solomon Hanau, the outstanding Hebrew grammarian of the eighteenth century; and at some point in his teens or early adulthood, R. Yonatan Eibeschutz, one of the leading rabbis of his generation.
Contemporaries –
Students –
Time period –

Biblical commentaries – Wessely contributed the commentary to Vayikra for Mendelssohn's Sefer Netivot ha-Shalom; and also authored Imre Shefer, a commentary to Bereshit. Editions of both are housed in AlHaTorah's Mikraot Gedolot.
Hebrew language and poetry – Gan Naul, a two volume work on Hebrew synonyms; Shire Tiferet, a poetic-epic retelling of the Exodus from Egypt and the life of Moses; many other occasional poems, some of which were published in Ha-Me'asef, the maskilic journal that began publication in 1784.
Rabbinic Literature – Yein Levanon, a commentary to Pirke Avot
Other writings – Sefer ha-Midot, a book on Jewish ethics; Hiqqur ha-Din, on the final judgment.