Mordecai Yoffe

Mordechai ben Abraham Jaffe ( * ca 1530 in Prague, † March 7, 1612 in Poznań ) was a Jewish scholar, Rabbi, Rosh Yeshiva and Dezisor. He is best known as author of the ten -volume work Lewusch Malchut, after which it is also called Lewusch.

Life

Jaffe was born in Prague and sent as a boy to Poland to study at Solomon Luria and Moses Isserles. Apparently, at the instigation of Isserles, he studied philosophy and astronomy simultaneously, and Kabbalah in Mattathias ben Solomon Delakrot. After spending several years he returned to Prague in 1553 and leader of the local yeshiva. Soon he noticed that the students showed no interest for the real understanding of the Talmud, but indulged in hair-splitting discussions. Therefore Jaffe decided to spend as little time with these students and devoted himself to writing books.

So his main work was Lewusch Malchut ( " clothing the kingdom [ of God ] ) ", which was initially intended as a summary of Beth Joseph, the main halachic work of Joseph Karo. As a basis he held it to the "three pillars of authority": Alfasi, Maimonides, and Asher ben Jehiel. While working on this book, the Jews were expelled in 1561 from Bohemia, and Jaffe settled in Venice, where he first his employment with Karos work continued, however, it began to comment on works of Maimonides and Menachem Recanati.

After a ten- year stay Jaffe left Italy and went to Poland - Lithuania, which was the most important center of Jewish learning in Europe at that time. Here he was appointed presiding judge and head of the yeshiva in the Lithuanian Grodno. He later received a similar place in Lublin, and then in Kremenez. In Poland Jaffe signed the most important decisions of the Council of the four countries. In 1592 he returned to Prague, where he followed the Maharal as court president, the same place took over in Poznan. 1599 exchanged Judah Loew Jaffe and their positions, and Jaffe remained in Posen until his death.

Work

In his major work Lewusch Malchut Jaffe worked for nearly 50 years. In the preface he describes the work as " middle way between two extremes. Karos Beth Joseph, and on the other side of the Shulchan Aruch and Isserles ' Mappa, both of which are held for short" The work contains ten volumes, the Lewuschim ( " cladding " ) are mentioned. The first five deal with the halachic laws in bet Joseph, the sixth Rashi's commentary on the Bible, the seventh contains sermons on the occasion of weddings and holidays, the eighth is a commentary on the Guide of the Perplexed, the ninth commented a treatise on the laws of the Jewish calendar of Maimonides, and the last deals with Menachem Recanati Kabbalistic commentary on the Bible. The last three volumes were described by Jaffe as " rabbinical office clothes," he said, adding that they " should be studied in sequence of each student. Philosophy, astronomy and Kabbalah " Out of the mouth of a leading figure of the Polish and Lithuanian Jewry in the 16th century, these words bear witness to the influence of the Renaissance on former Jewish scholars. Jaffe studied the Kabbalah as " the crowning jewel of spirituality."

The " Lewuschim " published 1590-1604 in various editions in Lublin, Prague and Krakow. They were initially criticized by almost all contemporary rabbis, but received by Elias Schapiro, who in Prague a comment for the first volume of " Lewuschim " published at the end of the 17th century, a very honorable mention.