Tzadikim

Rabbi Joel ben Samuel Sirkis

Rabbi Joel ben Samuel Sirkis (יואל בן שמואל סירקיש) also known as the Bach - בית חדש) ב"ח)—an abbreviation of his magnum opus, Bayit Chadash—was a prominent Jewish posek and halakhist. He lived in central Europe and held rabbinical positions in Belz, Brest-Litovsk and Kraków. He lived from 1561 to 1640

Born: 1561 Loblin, Poland
Died: Kraków, 1640
 

Rabbi Joel ben Samuel Sirkis (יואל בן שמואל סירקיש) also known as the Bach - בית חדש) ב"ח)—an abbreviation of his magnum opus, Bayit Chadash—was a prominent Jewish posek and halakhist. He lived in central Europe and held rabbinical positions in Belz, Brest-Litovsk and Kraków. He lived from 1561 to 1640.

Biography

Sirkis was born in Lublin in 1561. At age fourteen he went to the yeshiva of R. Naftali Zvi Hirsch Schor, a leading student of R. Moses Isserles. After remaining there some time he went to Brest-Litovsk, where he attended the yeshiva of Rabbi Phoebus. While still a youth he was invited to the rabbinate of Pruzhany, near Slonim. Later he occupied the rabbinates of Lukow, Lublin, Medzyboz, Belz, Szydlowka, and finally Brest-Litovsk and Kraków, succeeding in each of the two last-mentioned places his teacher R. Phoebus.

"The Bach" was an adherent of the Kabbalah and an opponent of pilpul. He was also critical of those who relied solely on the Shulchan Aruch for halachic decisions, rather than on the Talmud and the Geonim. He was the father-in-law of Rabbi David HaLevi Segal, who frequently refers to him in Turei Zahav, his commentary on the Shulchan Aruch. Rabbi Sirkis died in Kraków in 1640.

Works

  • Bayit Chadash (בית חדש - "New House", a reference to Deuteronomy 22:8, abbreviated as Bach - ב"ח), Rabbi Sirkis's best known work, is a major commentary on the Arba'ah Turim of Jacob ben Asher. The work presents and elucidates the fundamental principles of the Torah as recorded in the Mishnah, the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, and the chief codes.
  • Hagahot haBach (glosses of the Bach) - suggestions for textual emendations in the Talmud and Rashi, copied from the notes that the author added to his copy of the Talmud. The Bach's notes are marked in the text as a letter in Rashi script within parentheses.
  • Meshiv Nefesh, a commentary on the Book of Ruth, (Lublin, 1616).
  • Teshuvot ha-Bach ("Responsa of the Bach").
  • Beurei ha-Bach le-Pardes Rimmonim, explanations of passages in the Kabbalistic magnum opus of Moses ben Jacob Cordovero.
  • May the merit of the tzadik Rabbi Joel ben Samuel Sirkis protect us all. Amen
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  • Soul Elevations

    • Ruchel bat Kayla
    • VELVEL ROYTMAN ben Avraham
    • Ester bat Abraham bat Abraham Avinu
    • William Yady ben Avraham
    • Yoel ben Hannah Shifra
    • שיינה מינדל בת ר' יחיאל הלל
    • Lucia bat Jose
    • Heather Kroamer bat Ruth
    • רבי יחיאל הלל בן רבי יעקב
    • María Oralia Hernández Garza bat María de Jesús Garza Hernández
    • Shlomo Yitzchak ben Sarah
    • DAVID GIDALEVSKIY ben Avraham
    • Kayla bat Peppi
    • Zalman ben Sarah
    • Moshe Yitzchak ben Malka
    • MERCEDES YOLANDA CABRERA GARCIA bat Mercedes García
    • GUADALUPE ARGIMIRO CABRERA GARCIA ben Leandro Cabrera
    • Malka bat Sarah
    • ZLATA KHAZINA bat Sarah
  • Healing

    • MARTHA ELOINA GOMEZ HERNANDEZ bat ROSA
    • Miriam bat Sarah
    • Sarah bat Luiza
    • Shmuel ben Manya
    • SPYRIDON ben VICTORIA
    • Esther bat Monica
    • Sarah bat Myriam
    • Melissa Lewis bat Barbara Indra
    • Zalman ben Ruchel
    • יהושע פאליק בן הרב יחיאל הלל
    • Efrat bat Ziona
    • Jackie bat Bertha
    • Avrohom Yaakov ben Rochel
    • Isaac Benyamin ben Chanah Hinda
    • Yehoshua ben Hannah
    • Yolanda bat Olga
    • Robert Eugene ben Marie
    • Ruth bat Carmen
    • Leah Yehudis bat Tziporah Rochel
    • Sarah bat Luiza
    • Luiz ben Maria
    • Oneida Yanira bat Milila
    • Sean ben Gloria
  • Success in life

    • ANANDA MICHELLE CABRERA DE LA GARZA bat DANNIELA
    • Isaac Benjamin ben Mordechai
    • Augusto ben Salvador R. Hernandez
    • ELSA CABRERA DE LA GARZA bat DANNIELA
    • Wanda Jean bat Glen
    • Tzivia Gallegos bat Dionicio
    • NSAMA ben CHAMA
    • Mishpacha Rochel bas Zahava bas Molly/Milka/Malka bas Devora Gelia bat Dovid ben Yoseph v Rochel
    • Florrie Sésé bat Kae
    • Amir ben Shlomo
    • Sarah Hannah ben Moshe
    • Sarita Mazal bat Moises Jacobo
    • ELSA CABRERA DE LA GARZA bat DANNIELA
    • Carol Cari Chanah Dinah, Isaac Benyamin and family ben Joseph and Mordechai
    • Oneida Yanira bat Milila
    • Sarita Mazal, Bastien Benyamin, Jonah Yehiel, Isla Bib Chanah bat Moshe Jacob and Carol Chanah Dinah Leibel and Shanah
    • Luiz ben Lino
    • אסתר בת אברהם
    • Rivka bat Joseph
    • Elton ben Marshall
    • GRACIELA bat ISMAEL
    • Arik ben John Ambrose
    • Debbie bat Ralph
    • Frances bat Fransico
    • Ingrid bat Horst
    • SPYRIDON DIAMANTIDIS ben ADAMANDIOS
    • Erika Olsen ben Howard William Cooley
    • Aryeh Izthak ben David
    • Carol Chanah Dinah bat Joseph
    • Moshe Wolf aka Jetro da Silva ben Matilda
    • Sarah bat Primo
    • Elisheba bat William Yady
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