Mordecai ben Avraham Yoffe (or Jaffe or Joffe) ( 1530 – 7 March 1612;

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: מרדכי בן אברהם יפה) was a

Rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

Rosh yeshiva Rosh yeshiva or Rosh Hayeshiva (, plural, pl. , '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and th ...

and

posek In Jewish law, a ''posek'' ( , pl. ''poskim'', ) is a legal scholar who determines the application of ''halakha'', the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah, in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities are incon ...

. He is best known as author of ''Levush Malkhus'', a ten-volume codification of Jewish law that particularly stressed the

customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

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 Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

; he could count amongst his ancestors

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...

and before him Hillel, Elnathan (governor of Judea) and ultimately back to

King David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...

. His father, Abraham b. Joseph, was a pupil of Abraham ben Abigdor. The ''Levush'' studied under

Moses Isserles Moses Isserles (; ; 22 February 1530 / 25 Adar I 5290 – 11 May 1572 / 18 Iyar 5332), also known by the acronym Rema, was an eminent Polish Ashkenazi rabbi, talmudist, and '' posek'' (expert in Jewish law). He is considered the "Maimonides o ...

and

Solomon Luria Shlomo Luria (1510 – November 7, 1573) () was one of the great Ashkenazic ''poskim'' (decisors of Jewish law) and teachers of his time. He is known for his work of Halakha, ''Yam Shel Shlomo'', and his Talmudic commentary ''Chochmat Shlomo''. L ...

; Mattithiah b. Solomon Delacrut was his teacher in

Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...

. Yoffe also studied philosophy, astronomy, and mathematics (apparently at the insistence of Isserles). He was

Rosh Yeshiva Rosh yeshiva or Rosh Hayeshiva (, plural, pl. , '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and th ...

until 1561, when, by order of the emperor Ferdinand, the Jews were expelled from

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

. Yoffe then went to Venice and studied astronomy (1561–71). In 1572 he was elected rabbi of

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

; in 1588, rabbi of

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

, where he became one of the leaders of the

Council of Four Lands The Council of Four Lands (, ''Va'ad Arba' Aratzot'', ) was the central body of Jewish authority in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from the second half of the 16th century to 1764, located in Lublin. The Council's first law is recorded as h ...

. Later Yoffe accepted the rabbinate of Kremenetz. In 1592 he was called as rabbi to

; from 1599 until his death he occupied the position of chief rabbi of Posen. In addition to his Torah study, writing and teaching he was involved with communal needs, and attended the fairs at

Yaroslav Yaroslav () is a Slavic masculine given name. Its variant spelling is Jaroslav and Iaroslav, and its feminine form is Yaroslava. The surname derived from the name is Yaroslavsky and its variants. East Slavic patronymics are Yaroslavovich and Yar ...

and

, where community leaders and rabbis from large communities met to discuss matters of general interest. These meetings were the forerunners of the

Council of the Four Lands The Council of Four Lands (, ''Va'ad Arba' Aratzot'', ) was the central body of Jewish authority in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from the second half of the 16th century to 1764, located in Lublin. The Council's first law is recorded as h ...

and the

Council of Lithuania In the history of Lithuania, the Council of Lithuania (; ; ), after July 11, 1918, the State Council of Lithuania () was convened at the Vilnius Conference that took place between 18 and 23 September 1917. The twenty men who composed the c ...

. He is also a patriarch of the

Jaffe family The Jaffe family (Hebrew: יפה) is an Ashkenazi Jewish Rabbinic family originally from Dampierre, France. The family descends from the 12th century Tosafist, Elhanan Jaffe of Dampierre (died 1184). Members of the family have produced nume ...

. A different Rabbi Mordecai Yoffe - Mordecai ben Moses Yoffe - is known for the controversy over his 1549 appointment as rabbi of

, which had to be settled by

Queen Bona Bona Sforza (2 February 1494 – 19 November 1557) was Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania as the second wife of Sigismund the Old, and Duchess of Bari and Rossano by her own right. She was a surviving member of the powerful House ...

, and eventually led the Lithuanian government to formalize many of the procedures of the Jewish community.

Works

Levush Malkhus is a work of practical halacha, accompanied by the reasons behind the various halachic decisions according to logic and earlier sources, and includes sections on Torah commentary, philosophy, and mysticism. This work was divided into ten sections known as "levushim" (garments, or "attires"). While still in his youth, Rabbi Yoffe had the idea to compile a book on Jewish law, which would be used for making halachic decisions. The appearance of R' Yosef Caro's

Shulchan Arukh The ''Shulhan Arukh'' ( ),, often called "the Code of Jewish Law", is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Rabbinic Judaism. It was authored in the city of Safed in what is now Israel by Joseph Karo in 1563 and published in Ven ...

, a digest of his Beit Yosef, led Rabbi Yoffe to consider whether he should continue writing his own work. On reflection, he concluded that there was room for it since it would contain "those laws observed by the

Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...

of Bohemia." When R'

Moshe Isserles Moses Isserles (; ; 22 February 1530 / 25 Adar I 5290 – 11 May 1572 / 18 Iyar 5332), also known by the acronym Rema, was an eminent Polish Ashkenazi rabbi, talmudist, and ''posek'' (expert in Jewish law). He is considered the "Maimonides of ...

' gloss to the Shulḥan Arukh (called ''Mappah'') appeared in Cracow in 1578, Rabbi Yoffe felt that Rabbi Isserles had been too brief as had Rav Yosef Caro in the Shulḥan Arukh, and decided to resume his original work, "that will be midway between the two extremes: the lengthy Beit Yosef of Caro on the one hand, and on the other Rav Yosef Caro's Shulḥan Arukh together with the Mappah of Rabbi Isserles, which is too brief." In all, Rabbi Yoffe worked on this book almost 50 years. However, after completing his book he was confronted by another Rabbi who had also written a similar work, although not as extensive as Rabbi Yoffe's. They reached an agreement to publish Rabbi Yoffe's book and to present the other Rabbi's additional comments in glosses (hagahos) throughout the book. The work is organised as follows. The first five "attires" are devoted to the laws expounded in Rav Yosef Caro's

Beit Yosef Beit may refer to: *Beit (surname) *Beit baronets *Bet (letter), a letter of the Semitic abjad *A component of Glossary of Arabic toponyms, Arabic placenames and Glossary of Hebrew toponyms, Hebrew placenames, literally meaning 'house' *''Masada: Be ...

; the sixth, ''Ha-Orah'' is an elucidation of

's biblical commentary; the seventh, ''Simḥah ve-Sason'', contains sermons for holidays and weddings. Rabbi Yoffe collectively termed the last three, "rabbinic robes," considering that these should be learned by "every student in that order – philosophy, astronomy, and Kabbalah." These are: the eighth, ''Pinnat Yikrat'', is a commentary on

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

Guide of the Perplexed ''The Guide for the Perplexed'' (; ; ) is a work of Jewish theology by Maimonides. It seeks to reconcile Aristotelianism with Rabbinical Jewish theology by finding rational explanations for many events in the text. It was written in Judeo-Arabic ...

; the ninth, ''Eder Yakar'', is a commentary on the laws of the

Jewish calendar The Hebrew calendar (), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance and as an official calendar of Israel. It determines the dates of Jewish holidays and other rituals, such as ''yahrzeits ...

according to Maimonides and an additional commentary on

Abraham bar Hiyya Abraham bar Ḥiyya ha-Nasi (; – 1136 or 1145), also known as Abraham Savasorda, Abraham Albargeloni, and Abraham Judaeus, was a Catalan Jewish mathematician, astronomer and philosopher who resided in Barcelona, then in the County of Barcelo ...

's geographical-astronomical ''Tzurat ha-Aretz''; the tenth, ''Even Yikrat'', is on

Menahem Recanati Menahem ben Benjamin Recanati (; 1223–1290) was an Italian rabbi who was born and died in the city of Recanati, who devoted the chief part of his writings to the Kabbalah. Works In addition to the halachic rulings collected in Piskei Recanat ...

's commentary on the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

. The Levush is an exception among the codifiers in treating ritual-legal matters from a kabbalistic standpoint; his approach, to a certain extent, "tended to draw together the Talmudists and kabbalists, otherwise in danger of an open breach".

External links and references

*
Mordecai Jaffe
jewishencyclopedia.com

chabad.org

jewishvirtuallibrary.org
Jaffe, Mordecai Ben Abraham
The Levush in the Pedigree of Jaffe-Family {{DEFAULTSORT:Yoffe, Mordecai 16th-century rabbis from Bohemia 1530s births 1612 deaths Jewish Czech writers Rabbis from Prague 16th-century Polish rabbis 16th-century Polish writers 17th-century Polish rabbis Clergy from Poznań Authors of books on Jewish law Rabbis from Grodno Exponents of Jewish law Poskim