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Yoel Sirkis, (1561-1640), also known as the Bach - an abbreviation of his magnum opus, Bayit Chadash - was a prominent Jewish posek
Posek

Posek is the term in Halakha for "decider"?a legal scholar who decides the Halakha in cases of law where previous authorities are inconclusive....
 and halakhist
Halakha

Halakha ? also Hebrew transliteration Halocho and Halacha ? is the collective body of Judaism religious law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions....
. He lived in central Europe
Central Europe

Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern Europe and Western Europe Europe. In addition, Northern Europe, Southern Europe and Southeastern Europe may variously delimit or overlap into Central Europe....
 and held rabbinical positions in Belz
Belz

Belz , a small town in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine, near the border with Poland, is located between the Solokiya river and the Rzeczyca stream....
, Brest-Litovsk and Cracow
Kraków

Krak?w , in English also spelled Krakow or Cracow , is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland, with a population of 756,336 in 2007 ....
.

i Sirkis was born in Lublin
Lublin

Lublin is the largest city in Poland east of the Vistula, and the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 355,954 . It is List of cities and towns in Poland....
 in 1561. At age fourteen he went to the yeshiva
Yeshiva

Yeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for Torah study, the study of Talmud, Rabbinic literature and History of responsa....
 of Solomon ben Judah. After remaining there some time he went to Brest-Litovsk, where he attended the yeshiva
Yeshiva

Yeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for Torah study, the study of Talmud, Rabbinic literature and History of responsa....
 of Rabbi Phoebus.






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Yoel Sirkis, (1561-1640), also known as the Bach - an abbreviation of his magnum opus, Bayit Chadash - was a prominent Jewish posek
Posek

Posek is the term in Halakha for "decider"?a legal scholar who decides the Halakha in cases of law where previous authorities are inconclusive....
 and halakhist
Halakha

Halakha ? also Hebrew transliteration Halocho and Halacha ? is the collective body of Judaism religious law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions....
. He lived in central Europe
Central Europe

Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern Europe and Western Europe Europe. In addition, Northern Europe, Southern Europe and Southeastern Europe may variously delimit or overlap into Central Europe....
 and held rabbinical positions in Belz
Belz

Belz , a small town in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine, near the border with Poland, is located between the Solokiya river and the Rzeczyca stream....
, Brest-Litovsk and Cracow
Kraków

Krak?w , in English also spelled Krakow or Cracow , is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland, with a population of 756,336 in 2007 ....
.

Biography

Rabbi Sirkis was born in Lublin
Lublin

Lublin is the largest city in Poland east of the Vistula, and the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 355,954 . It is List of cities and towns in Poland....
 in 1561. At age fourteen he went to the yeshiva
Yeshiva

Yeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for Torah study, the study of Talmud, Rabbinic literature and History of responsa....
 of Solomon ben Judah. After remaining there some time he went to Brest-Litovsk, where he attended the yeshiva
Yeshiva

Yeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for Torah study, the study of Talmud, Rabbinic literature and History of responsa....
 of Rabbi Phoebus. While still a youth he was invited to the rabbinate of Pruszany, near Slonim
Slonim

Slonim is a city in Belarus in the Hrodna voblast and Slonim Rayon, located at the junction of the Shchara and Isa Rivers, 143 km southeast of Hrodna ....
. Later he occupied the rabbinates of Lubkow
Lubków

Lubk?w may refer to the following places in Poland:*Lubk?w, Boleslawiec County in Lower Silesian Voivodeship *Lubk?w, Lubin County in Lower Silesian Voivodeship ...
, Lublin
Lublin

Lublin is the largest city in Poland east of the Vistula, and the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 355,954 . It is List of cities and towns in Poland....
, Medzyboz
Medzhybizh

Medzhybizh, previously known as Mezhybozhe, population 1731, is a Urban-type settlement in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast of western Ukraine. It is located in the Letychivsky Raion , 25 kilometres from the Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine on the main highway between Khmelnytskyi and Vinnytsia at the confluence of the Southern Buh and Buzhok rivers....
, Belz
Belz

Belz , a small town in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine, near the border with Poland, is located between the Solokiya river and the Rzeczyca stream....
, Szydlowka
Szydlówka

Szydl?wka is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Olszanka, Masovian Voivodeship, within Losice County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland....
, and finally Brest-Litovsk and Cracow, succeeding in each of the two last-mentioned places his teacher R. Phoebus.

"The Bach" was an adherent of the Kabbalah
Kabbalah

Kabbalah is a discipline and school of thought discussing the mysticism aspect of Judaism. It is a set of esoteric teachings that are meant to explain the relationship between an infinite, eternal and essentially unknowable Creator deity with the finite and mortal universe of His creation....
 and an opponent of pilpul
Pilpul

Pilpul refers to a method of studying the Talmud through intense textual analysis in attempts to either explain conceptual differences between various halakha rulings or to reconcile any apparent contradictions presented from various readings of different texts....
. He was also critical of those who relied solely on the Shulchan Aruch
Shulchan Aruch

The Shulchan Aruch is a codification, or written manual, of halacha , composed by Rabbi Yosef Karo in the 16th century. Together with its commentaries, it is considered the most authoritative compilation of halakha since the Talmud....
 for halachic decisions, rather than on the Talmud
Talmud

The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Halakha, Jewish ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
 and the Geonim
Geonim

Geonim were the presidents of the two great Talmudic Academies in Babylonia of Sura and Pumbedita, in Babylonia, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of the Jewish community world wide in the early medieval era, in contrast to the Resh Galuta who wielded secular authority over the Jews in Islamic lands....
. He was the father-in-law of Rabbi David HaLevi Segal
David HaLevi Segal

David HaLevi Segal , also known as the Taz or the Turei Zahav, was a prominent Jews of Poland halakha authority and author of a significant commentary on the Shulchan Aruch....
, who frequently refers to him in Turei Zahav, his commentary
Shulchan Aruch

The Shulchan Aruch is a codification, or written manual, of halacha , composed by Rabbi Yosef Karo in the 16th century. Together with its commentaries, it is considered the most authoritative compilation of halakha since the Talmud....
 on the Shulchan Aruch
Shulchan Aruch

The Shulchan Aruch is a codification, or written manual, of halacha , composed by Rabbi Yosef Karo in the 16th century. Together with its commentaries, it is considered the most authoritative compilation of halakha since the Talmud....
. Rabbi Sirkis died in Cracow in 1640.

Works

  • Bayit Chadash ("New House", a reference to Deuteronomy
    Deuteronomy

    Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and of the Old Testament. In form it is a set of three sermons delivered by Moses reviewing the previous forty years of wandering in the wilderness; its central element is a detailed law-code by which the Children of Israel are to live in the Promised Land....
     22:8, abbreviated as Bach), Rabbi Sirkis's best known work, is a major commentary
    Close reading

    In literary criticism, close reading describes the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of text. Such a reading places great emphasis on the particular over the general, paying close attention to individual words, syntax, and the order in which sentences and ideas unfold as they are read....
     on the Arba'ah Turim
    Arba'ah Turim

    Arba'ah Turim , often called simply the Tur, is an important Halakha Halakha#Codes_of_Jewish_law, composed by Jacob ben Asher . The four-part structure of the Tur and its division into chapters were adopted by the later code Shulchan Aruch....
     of Jacob ben Asher
    Jacob ben Asher

    Rabbi Jacob ben Asher, in Hebrew language Ya'akov ben Asher, was born in Cologne, Germany in about 1269 and died in Toledo, Spain in about 1343....
    . The work presents and elucidates the fundamental principles of the Torah
    Torah

    The term "Torah" , or Five Books of Moses or Pentateuch, refers to the entirety of Judaism's founding Halakha and ethical religious texts....
     as recorded in the Mishnah
    Mishnah

    The Mishnah or Mishna is a major work of Rabbinic literature, and the first major redaction into written form of Jewish oral traditions, called the Oral Torah....
    , the Babylonian
    Talmud

    The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Halakha, Jewish ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
     and Jerusalem Talmud
    Jerusalem Talmud

    The Jerusalem Talmud or Talmud Yerushalmi , often the Yerushalmi for short, is a collection of rabbi notes about the Jewish Oral law as detailed in the 2nd-century Mishnah....
    s, and the chief codes
    Halakha

    Halakha ? also Hebrew transliteration Halocho and Halacha ? is the collective body of Judaism religious law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions....
    .
  • Hagahot haBach (Gloss
    Gloss

    A gloss is a brief summary of a word's meaning, equivalent to the dictionary entry of that word, but only a word or two in length. It is typically used for the meaning of a word in another language, and hence a simple translation....
    es of the Bach) - suggestions for textual emendations in the Talmud and Rashi
    Rashi

    Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, , better known by the acronym Rashi , , was a rabbi from France, famed as the author of the first comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, and Jewish commentaries on the Bible....
    , copied from the notes that the author added to his copy of the Talmud. The Bach noted his comments to the text by enclosing a letter in Rashi script within parentheses.
  • Meshiv Nefesh, a commentary on the Book of Ruth
    Book of Ruth

    The Book of Ruth is one of the books of the Ketuvim of the Tanakh and of the Historical Books of the Old Testament. It is a rather short book, in both Judaism and Christianity scripture, consisting of only four chapters....
    , (Lublin, 1616);
  • Teshuvot ha-Bach ("Responsa
    Responsa

    Responsa comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them....
     of the Bach").


External links and references

  • , jewishencyclopedia.com
  • , jewishhistory.org.il