The Horowitz family (, ) is a Levitical Ashkenazi rabbinic family, who are among the most prominent rabbinic families in Europe and are generally considered to possess the oldest and best recorded Levitical pedigree. The family chiefly descends from R. Joseph HaLevi who settled in Hořovice, Bohemia ( or ) in 1391 and adopted the surname "Ish-Horowitz" ().
From the 16th-century and onward, the family dominated the Prague community and formed marriage alliances with other prestigious families. They later spread out to Eastern European communities and produced numerous rabbis and communal leaders. Following the rise of the Haskalah, the family produced several writers of the Enlightenment, scholars, musicians, and scientists.
Origins
The Horowitz family preserved a tradition that R. Joseph HaLevi of Hořovice was originally from Girona, Spain and was a direct paternal descendant of R. Zerachiah HaLevi of Girona. R. Zerachiah himself was a descendant of the Yizhari family of Girona who claimed paternal descendant from Heman the Singer who as the grandson of the Prophet Samuel who in part was a direct paternal descendant of Yizhar son of Kehath son of Levi, who is the eponymous ancestor of the Yizhari family of Girona.
The Horowitz family have traditionally had an affinity to their patriarch, the Prophet Samuel such as R. Shmuel Shmelke Horowitz of Nikolsburg (1726–1778) who famously said on his deathbed "You should know that my soul is that of the Prophet Samuel. Proof of this is that my name, like the prophet's, is Samuel. The prophet was a Levi, and so am I. The Prophet Samuel lived to be 52 years, and I am today 52 years old. Only the prophet was called Samuel, but I have remained Shmelke."
Early history
With the growth of the Jewish community in Prague and the Bohemian Diet passing land rights reform in 1501, allowing for more real estate in the city to be built and owned by Jews, the Horowitz family sold their holdings in Hořovice and moved to Prague in the early 16th century, taking on the Horowitz surname.
R. Joseph of Hořovice's son, R. Aaron Meshullam Horowitz, built the Pinkas Synagogue in Prague and had eight children who later became the foundation of the Horowitz family. Members of the family such as R. Shabtai Sheftel Horowitz (1565–1619) and R. Isaiah Horowitz (1555–1630) later left Prague and settled in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth with the latter, R. Isaiah, holding rabbinic posts in Dubno and Ostróg, finally settling in Tiberias where he died thus sparking a kabbalistic revival in sixteenth-century Palestine.
R. Isaiah was a disciple of R. Moses Isserles and thus helped to spread his Talmudic approach throughout Europe with many members of the Horowitz family marrying members of the Isserles family. R. Isaiah authored the work Shenei Luḥot HaBerit, which later become a principle work of European Kabbalah. His son R. Shabbethai Horowitz (1590–1660) was a prominent talmudist and rabbinic figure in Ostroh, Fürth, Frankfurt am Main and Vienna.
Later history
Hasidism
One particularly prominent branch of the family descends from R. Meir Horowitz (1656–1746), who was one of two Rabbis known as the "Maharam of Tiktin" (The other was a contemporary if his, Rabbi Menachem of Tiktin). This was because at the end of his life R. Meir occupied the position of Chief Rabbi in Tiktin. Both his grandsons R. Shmuel Shmelke Horowitz of Nikolsburg (1726–1778) and R. Pinchas Horowitz of Frankfurt (1731–1805) where disciples of R. Dov Ber of Mezeritch and established the Horowitz family as leading figures in the rise of Hasidism.
R. Pinchas's son R. Tzvi Hirsch Horowitz succeeded him as Chief Rabbi of Frankfurt and authored the work "Macheneh Levi".
R. Shmelke had two sons, his eldest son R. Zevi Joshua Horowitz (1760–1816) authored the work "Hiddushei ha-Ribash" and is the progenitor of the Nikolsburg Hasidic dynasty which includes the Boston Hasidic dynasty founded by R. Zevi Joshua's descendant R. Pinchas David Horowitz (1876–1941) in 1915. His descendants include the second Bostoner Rebbe, R. Levi Yitzchak Horowitz (1921–2009), his son's R. Mayer Alter Horowitz and R. Naftali Yehuda Horowitz and his nephew R. Chaim Avrohom Horowitz (1933–2016) and his nephew's son R. Yaakov Yitzchak Horowitz.