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 t ...

born in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

about 1578 and died in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

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

Przemyśl Przemyśl () is a city in southeastern Poland with 56,466 inhabitants, as of December 2023. Data for territorial unit 1862000. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It was previously the capital of Prz ...

Red Ruthenia Red Ruthenia, also called Red Rus or Red Russia, is a term used since the Middle Ages for the south-western principalities of Kievan Rus', namely the Principality of Peremyshl and the Duchy of Belz, Principality of Belz. It is closely related to ...

, to study the

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

under Rabbi Samuel ben Phoebus of Kraków. He returned to his native country and continued his Talmudic studies in the city of Włodzimierz (Volodymyr, Volhynia) under Rabbi Joshua Falk. After his marriage to the daughter of Rabbi Samuel of Brest-Litovsk, he became rabbi of the city 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 ...

, whence he was called to the rabbinate of Tiktin ( Tykocin), and later to that of Przemyśl. In 1639 he became rabbi of

Lemberg Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

(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 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 ...

, 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 ...

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 (; 1621–1662) was a talmudist and halakhist. He became known as the ''Shakh'' (), which is an abbreviation of his most important work, ''Siftei Kohen'' () (literally ''Lips of the Priest'') on the Shulchan Aruch. Bi ...

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

Shulchan Aruch 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 ...

''. Joshua's published works are: *''Maginei Shelomo'' (Amsterdam, 1715), '' novellae'' 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, Germany, Bohemia and Austria, 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 ...

on the commentaries of

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 ...

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

Steinschneider Moritz Steinschneider (; 30 March 1816 – 24 January 1907) was a Moravian bibliographer and Orientalist, and an important figure in Jewish studies and Jewish history. He is credited as having invented the term ''antisemitism.'' Education Mo ...

, ''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