Rabbi Hirschel Ben Arye Löb Levin (Also known as Hart Lyon and Hirshel Löbel; 1721 - August 26 1800) was Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and Berlin, and Rabbi of Halberstadt and Mannheim.
He was born in Rzeszów, Poland to Aryeh Löb and Miriam Lowenstam. His father was rabbi at Amsterdam and his mother was daughter of Rabbi Chacham Zvi Ashkenazi. He was a descendant of Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm.
Levin was a distinguished Talmudist, and in 1751 he threw himself into the struggle between Jacob Emden (who was, in fact, his uncle) and Jonathan Eybeschütz, naturally siding with the former. His epistles against Eybeschütz made such an impression that in 1756 he was elected Chief Rabbi of the Great Synagogue of London. He resigned in 1763, and accepted the rabbinate of Halberstadt. He was succeeded as Chief Rabbi by Rabbi Meshullam Solomon and Rabbi Tevele Schiff, rival claimants appointed by dissenting factions in the Jewish community of London. Lyon afterward became rabbi of Mannheim, and in 1772 he was appointed Chief Rabbi of Berlin. He was a great friend of Moses Mendelssohn.
Levin began in 1782 to persecute Naphtali Hirz Wessely for his Divre Shalom ve-Emet. He prohibited the printing of that work, and insisted upon the expulsion of the author from Berlin.
His glosses on the Talmud appear in the Vilna edition under the name of Rabbi Tsvi Hersh Berlin. His son, Rabbi Solomon Hirschell was also Chief Rabbi of the British German and Polish Jewish community, and the first of the British empire. His other son, Saul Berlin, was a Talmudist and notorious forger of the Besamim Rosh.
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| Preceded by Aaron Hart |
Chief Rabbi of Great Britain 1758–1764 |
Succeeded by David Tevele Schiff Meshullam Solomon |