Joshua Höschel ben Joseph was a Polish

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 ...

born in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

about 1578 and died in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

on August 16, 1648. In his boyhood, he journeyed to

Przemyśl Przemyśl (; yi, פשעמישל, Pshemishl; uk, Перемишль, Peremyshl; german: Premissel) is a city in southeastern Poland with 58,721 inhabitants, as of December 2021. In 1999, it became part of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship; it was pr ...

Red Ruthenia Red Ruthenia or Red Rus' ( la, Ruthenia Rubra; '; uk, Червона Русь, Chervona Rus'; pl, Ruś Czerwona, Ruś Halicka; russian: Червонная Русь, Chervonnaya Rus'; ro, Rutenia Roșie), is a term used since the Middle Ages fo ...

, to study the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

under Rabbi

Samuel ben Phoebus Samuel ben Uri Shraga Phoebus (alternatively, "Or Shraga", "Faivish", "Fayvish", "Faibesh", etc.) (Hebrew: שמואל בן אורי שרגא פיביש) was a Polish rabbi and Talmudist of Woydyslaw in the second half of the 17th century. In his ea ...

of Kraków. He returned to his native country, and continued his Talmudic studies in the city of Włodzimierz (Volodymyr, Volhynia) under Rabbi

Joshua Falk Joshua ben Alexander HaCohen Falk (1555 – 29 March 1614) was a Polish Halakhist and Talmudist, best known as the author of the ''Drisha'' and ''Prisha'' commentaries on the ''Arba'ah Turim'' as well as ''Sefer Me'irat Enayim'' (סמ"ע) on ...

. After his marriage to the daughter of Rabbi Samuel of Brest-Litovsk, he became rabbi of the city of

Grodno Grodno (russian: Гродно, pl, Grodno; lt, Gardinas) or Hrodna ( be, Гродна ), is a city in western Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, 300 km (186 mi) from Minsk, about 15 km (9 mi) from the Polish b ...

, whence he was called to the rabbinate of Tiktin (

Tykocin Tykocin is a small town in north-eastern Poland, with 2,010 inhabitants (2012), located on the Narew river, in Białystok County in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is one of the oldest towns in the region, with its historic center designated a His ...

), and later to that of Przemyśl. In 1639 he became rabbi of

Lemberg Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...

(Lviv, Ukraine) and in the following year he was appointed head of the yeshiva of Kraków. At Kraków Joshua devoted all his time to matters pertaining to the yeshiva, ''din'' (law), and religious decisions. As he was a man of wealth, he accepted no salary for the services he rendered to the Jewish community of Kraków. Joshua was one of the most eminent Talmudic analysts of his age. Like many of his learned contemporaries, Joshua had a taste also for the

Kabbalah Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...

, but he did not allow

mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

teachings to influence his halakhic decisions. On account of his extensive erudition in Talmudic literature, the number of his pupils at the yeshivah constantly increased. Many of them became noted rabbis. Among his students was Rav

Shabbatai HaKohen Shabbatai ben Meir HaKohen ( he, שבתי בן מאיר הכהן; 1621–1662) was a noted 17th century talmudist and halakhist. He became known as the ''Shakh'' ( he, ש"ך), which is an abbreviation of his most important work, ''Siftei Kohen'' ...

(1621–1662), also known as The Shach, one of the greatest commentators on the ''

Shulchan Aruch The ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך , literally: "Set Table"), sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in Is ...

''. Joshua's published works are: *''Maginei Shelomo'' (Amsterdam, 1715), ''

novellae In Roman law, a novel ( la, novella constitutio, "new decree"; gr, νεαρά, neara) is a new decree or edict, in other words a new law. The term was used from the fourth century AD onwards and was specifically used for laws issued after the publi ...

'' on various tractates of the Talmud, in which the author attempts to refute the strictures made by the schools of the

Tosafists Tosafists were rabbis of France and Germany, who lived from the 12th to the mid-15th centuries, in the period of Rishonim. The Tosafists composed critical and explanatory glosses (questions, notes, interpretations, rulings and sources) on the Tal ...

on the commentaries of

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...

. *''She'elot uTeshuvot Penei Yehoshua','' Amsterdam, 1715; Lemberg, 1860. *Other works of his are still in manuscript.

References

Its bibliography: *C. N. Dembitzer, ''Kelilat Yofi'', i. 109, ii.1, Cracow, 1888–93; *I. M. Zunz, Ir ha-Ẓedeḳ'', p. 79, Lemberg, 1874; *B. Friedberg, ''Luḥot Zikkaron'', p. 11, Drohobicz, 1897; *idem, ''Keter Kehunnah'', p. 5, ib. 1898; *

Solomon Buber Solomon (or Salomon) Buber (2 February 1827 – 28 December 1906) was a Jewish Galician scholar and editor of Hebrew works. He is especially remembered for his editions of Midrash and other medieval Jewish manuscripts, and for the pioneering res ...

, ''Anshe Shem'', p. 82, Cracow, 1895; *

Steinschneider Moritz Steinschneider (30 March 1816, Prostějov, Moravia, Austrian Empire – 24 January 1907, Berlin) was a Moravian bibliographer and Orientalist. He received his early instruction in Hebrew from his father, Jacob Steinschneider ( 1782; ...

, ''Cat. Bodl.'' col. 1557; *R. N. Rabinowitz, ''Hesrot u-Tiḳḳunim'', p. 12, Lyck, 1875; *S. Hurwitz, ''Reḥobot'' 'Ir, p. 10, Vilna, 1890. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoschel Ben Joseph, Joshua 17th-century Polish rabbis 1570s births 1648 deaths Rabbis from Vilnius

See also

References