Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch (Hirschel) Levin, also known as Tzvi Hirsch Berlin and, in London, as Hart Lyon, was born in 5481 (1721) in Rzeszów, Galicia. His father, Rabbi Aryeh Leib, was rabbi of the town and later rabbi of Amsterdam; his mother, Miriam, was the daughter of the Chacham Tzvi and the sister of Rabbi Yaakov Emden. His brother was Rabbi Shaul of Amsterdam, author of Binyan Ariel, and he was a descendant of Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem of Chelm.

Alongside his Talmudic and halachic learning he studied philosophy, natural science and Hebrew grammar, and even wrote some poems. In 1751, during the great controversy between his uncle Rabbi Yaakov Emden and Rabbi Yonatan Eybeschutz, he wrote several pieces in support of Emden.

He then became rabbi of the Great Synagogue in London, leaving after a few years because the community did not meet his standards of piety and halachic observance. He went on to serve as rabbi of Halberstadt, where he founded a large yeshiva, then of Mannheim, and in 1772 he was appointed rabbi of Berlin.

In Berlin he had to present the rabbinic position in the face of the emerging Haskalah movement. He took a relatively moderate line, valuing general knowledge as long as it remained subordinate to Torah study. In 1782, at the height of the controversy over Naftali Herz Wessely's Divrei Shalom VeEmet, he suddenly left the city, announcing that he intended to go up to the Land of Israel; the community leaders persuaded him to return, and he remained in office for about eighteen more years.

Works: Tzvi LaTzaddik, novellae on the Torah, Prophets and Talmud with responsa and sermons; Tzva Rav, on the Mishnah, the Tur and the Shulchan Aruch; and glosses on the Talmud printed in the Vilna edition under the name of Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Berlin. Among his sons were Rabbi Shaul Berlin, rabbi of Frankfurt an der Oder, and Rabbi Shlomo Hirschell, the first official Chief Rabbi of Great Britain.

He passed away on 5 Elul 5560 (26 August 1800) and was buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery of Berlin.