Yoel Sirkis
Joel ben Samuel Sirkis (Hebrew: רבי יואל בן שמואל סירקיש; born 1561 - March 14, 1640) also known as the Bach (an abbreviation of his magnum opus BAyit CHadash), was a prominent Ashkenazi posek and halakhist, who lived in Central Europe and held rabbinical positions in Belz, Brest-Litovsk and Kraków, and is considered to be one of the greatest Talmudic scholars of Poland. He is known for his liberal rulings in his responsum in which he challenges the rabbinic status quo. Biography Born in Lublin, Poland in 1561, his father Samuel Sirkis was a rabbi in Lublin and his mother Sarah Jaffe was a member of the Jaffe family, through her father Moses Jaffe of Kraków, making Mordecai Jaffe, the Bach's second cousin. At age fourteen he went to the yeshiva of Naftali Zvi Hirsch Schor, a leading student of Moses Isserles. After remaining there for some time he went to Brest-Litovsk, where he attended the yeshiva of Rabbi Phoebus. While still in his youth, he was in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kraków
, officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 (2023), with approximately 8 million additional people living within a radius. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596, and has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life. Cited as one of Europe's most beautiful cities, its Kraków Old Town, Old Town was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978, one of the world's first sites granted the status. The city began as a Hamlet (place), hamlet on Wawel Hill and was a busy trading centre of Central Europe in 985. In 1038, it became the seat of King of Poland, Polish monarchs from the Piast dynasty, and subsequently served as the centre of administration under Jagiellonian dynasty, Jagiellonian kings and of the Polish–Lithuan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mordecai Yoffe
Mordecai ben Avraham Yoffe (or Jaffe or Joffe) ( 1530 – 7 March 1612; Hebrew: מרדכי בן אברהם יפה) was a Rabbi, Rosh yeshiva and posek. He is best known as author of ''Levush Malkhus'', a ten-volume codification of Jewish law that particularly stressed the customs of the Jews of Eastern Europe. He is known as "the Levush" or "the Ba'al Halevushim", for this work. Biography Yoffe was born in Prague; he could count amongst his ancestors Rashi and before him Hillel, Elnathan (governor of Judea) and ultimately back to King David. His father, Abraham b. Joseph, was a pupil of Abraham ben Abigdor. The ''Levush'' studied under Moses Isserles and Solomon Luria; Mattithiah b. Solomon Delacrut was his teacher in Kabbalah. Yoffe also studied philosophy, astronomy, and mathematics (apparently at the insistence of Isserles). He was Rosh Yeshiva in Prague until 1561, when, by order of the emperor Ferdinand, the Jews were expelled from Bohemia. Yoffe then went to Ve ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jacob Ben Asher
Jacob ben Asher (c. 1270–1340), also known as Ba'al ha-Turim as well as Yaakov ben haRosh, was an influential Medieval rabbinic authority. He is often referred to as the Ba'al ha-Turim ("Author of the ''Turim''"), after his main work, the ''Arba'ah Turim'' ("Four Columns"). Biography He was probably born in the Holy Roman Empire at Cologne about 1270 and probably died at Toledo, then in the Kingdom of Castile, in 1340. He was the third son of the Asher ben Jehiel (known as the "Rosh"), a rabbi of the Holy Roman Empire who, in 1303, moved to Toledo in Castile, due to increasing persecution of Jews in his native Germany. Besides his father, who was his principal teacher, Jacob quotes very often in the ''Turim'' his elder brother Jehiel; once his brother Judah and once his uncle Chaim. Some say Jacob succeeded his father as the rabbi of the Jewish community of Toledo (Zacuto), while others say his brother Judah ben Asher did. His brothers were also rabbis of different commu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arba'ah Turim
''Arba'ah Turim'' (), often called simply the ''Tur'', is an important Halakha#Codes of Jewish law, Halakhic code composed by Yaakov ben Asher (Cologne, 1270 – Toledo, Spain c. 1340, also referred to as ''Ba'al Ha-Turim''). The four-part structure of the ''Tur'' and its division into chapters (''simanim'') were adopted by the later code ''Shulchan Aruch''. This was the first book to be printed in Southeast Europe and the Near East. Meaning of the name The title of the work in Hebrew language, Hebrew means "four rows", in allusion to the jewels on the Priestly breastplate, High Priest's breastplate. Each of the four divisions of the work is a "Tur", so a particular passage may be cited as "Tur Orach Chayim, siman 22", meaning "Orach Chayim division, chapter 22". This was later misunderstood as meaning "Tur, Orach Chayim, chapter 22" (to distinguish it from the corresponding passage in the Shulchan Aruch), so that "Tur" came to be used as the title of the whole work. Arran ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Menachem Mendel Krochmal
Menahem Mendel ben Abraham Krochmal (c. 1600 – 1661) was a Moravian rabbi born in Kraków. His teacher in the Talmud was Joel Sirkes, author of ''Bayis Chadash''. Krochmal soon distinguished himself so highly that with the permission of his master he was able to open a yeshiva, which sent forth scholars like Gershon Ashkenazi (afterward his son-in-law), and Menahem Mendel Auerbach, author of ''Ateres Zekeinim''. The Jews of Cracow, in appreciation of his learning, made Krochmal dayan. About 1636 Krochmal left his native city and went to Moravia. He was appointed rabbi of Kremsir, where he also founded a yeshivah. In 1645 he returned to Cracow; in the following year he became rabbi of Prossnitz; and in 1650 he accepted a call to the district rabbinate of Nikolsburg Mikulov (; ) is a town in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,600 inhabitants. From the 16th to the 19th century, it was the cultural centre of the Jewish c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gershon Ashkenazi
Rabbi Gershon Ashkenazi (c.1620 – 1693) was a Polish Talmudist who studied under Joel Sirkis. He was a disciple of the Maharam Shif and the Rabbi Heschel of Kraków. During his lifetime, Ashkenazi was a recognised authority in Talmudic law. Ashkenazi authored the Sefer Avodas HaGersuhni. Between 1649 and 1664, he served as a Rabbi in Prossnitz, Hanau, and Nikolsburg. In 1664, he moved to Vienna, where he remained until Jewish people were banished from the city in 1670. After his arrival in the city, he reached a high degree of respect in Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ..., where he was commonly sought after for rituals and teaching. Ashkenazi was popular and revered amongst a large number of his pupils, notably Rabbi David Oppenheim. Ashkenazi died o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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David HaLevi Segal
David ha-Levi Segal (c. 1586 – 20 February 1667), also known as the Turei Zahav (abbreviated Taz []) after the title of his significant ''halakha, halakhic'' commentary on the ''Shulchan Aruch'', was one of the greatest Jews of Poland, Polish rabbinical authorities. Biography Born in Ludmir, Volhynia, Segal was the son of Samuel ha-Levi Segal. His chief Torah teacher was his older brother, Isaac HaLevi Segal. He became a reputed Talmudic scholar, and married the daughter of Rabbi Joel Sirkis of Brest, Belarus, Brest who was also known as the Bach (ב"ח), and quoted his father-in-law frequently in his works. He was also a Mohel. After residing with his father-in-law and continuing his Torah studies for several years, Segal and his family moved to Kraków. He was then appointed chief rabbi of Potelych (Polish language, Polish: Potylicz), near Rava-Ruska, Rava, where he lived in great poverty. Later he went to Poznań, where he remained for several years. Around 1641 he becam ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Av Beit Din
The ''av beit din'' (), abbreviated ( ''avad''), was the second-highest-ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Temple period and served as an assistant to the nasi. The av beit din was known as the "Master of the Court;" he was considered the most learned and important of these seventy members. Menahem the Essene served as av beit din in the 1st century BCE before abdicating to "serve the King" in 20 BCE. The House of Shammai attained complete ascendency over the Sanhedrin from 9 CE until Gamaliel became nasi in 30 CE. The post of av beit din was eventually filled since the Babylonian Talmud states that Joshua ben Hananiah was the av beit din in Baba Kamma 74b and Nathan the Babylonian was av beit din in Horayot 13b in the Babylonian Talmud. The Jerusalem Talmud tells the story of how Gamaliel II was deposed and Eleazar ben Azariah replaced him as Nasi. After Gamaliel was reinstated, Eleazar ben Azariah was made av beit din. The parallel story in the Babylonian Ta ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Medzhybizh
Medzhybizh (; ; ; ), formerly Mezhybozhe, is a Populated places in Ukraine#Rural settlements, rural settlement in Khmelnytskyi Oblast, western Ukraine. It is located in Khmelnytskyi Raion, 25 kilometres from Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine, Khmelnytskyi on the main highway between Khmelnytskyi and Vinnytsia at the confluence of the Southern Buh and Buzhok rivers. Medzhybizh was once a prominent town in the former Podolia Province. Its name is derived from "mezhbuzhye", which means "between the Buzhenka (and the Southern Bug, Buh) Rivers". It is known as the birthplace of the Jewish Hasidic Judaism, Hasidic mystical religious movement. Medzhybizh hosts the administration of Medzhybizh settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Current population: 1,731, (2001 census). History Earliest history Medzhybizh is first mentioned in chronicles as an estate in Kievan Rus. It was given to Sviatoslav II of Kiev, Prince Svyatoslav by the prince of Kyiv in the year 1146. In 1148, ownershi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pruzhany
Pruzhany is a town in Brest Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Pruzhany District. The town is located at the confluence of the Mukha River and the Vets Canal, where the Mukhavets River rises. As of 2025, it has a population of 18,824. History Pruzhany has been known as Dabuchyn since 1487. In the 16th century, it belonged to queen Bona Sforza of Poland. She brought Renaissance influence and development of trades in this part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1589, her daughter Anna granted a town charter and the coat of arms of Pruzhany (a blue snake swallowing a baby on a silver shield). The coat of arms was borrowed from that of the Sforza family of Milan. Pruzhany was a center of pottery trade at those times. In the mid-19th century, a wealthy Polish landlord, Walenty Szwykowski, laid out a park and built a pretentious palace that houses a museum today, after a restoration. The museum has a rich collection on the history and arts of the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |