The Bach zy"a

Biography

The Bach zy"a, Reb Yoel Sirkis, was born in Lublin around 5321 (1561). His family name was Yaffe; he is called Sirkis after his mother. He learned from his father, Reb Shmuel of Lublin, from Reb Shlomo Leibush of Lublin, from Reb Hirsh Shor of Brisk — a talmid of the Remu zy"a — and from Reb Feivish, who was ram and av beis din in Krakow.

As a young man he already served in the rabbonus and led a yeshiva, in kehillos including Pruzhany, Lukov, Luboml, Medzhibozh, Belz, and Szydlow. In 5375 (1615) he became av beis din and ram in Brisk d'Lita, and in 5379 (1619) he came to the same task in Krakow and the galil, where he remained until his histalkus. He stood at the head of a large yeshiva, and he was among the leaders of the Vaad Arba Aratzos. His son-in-law and talmid was the Taz zy"a, Reb Dovid HaLevi Segal, mechaber of the Turei Zahav.

His main chibur is the Bayis Chadash on the Tur, a peirush that goes back to the gemara and the rishonim and fills what the Beis Yosef left short. He also wrote teshuvos, later printed as Shu"t HaBach, and hagahos on the Shas that are printed in the standard Shas to this day. The heading on his matzeivah in the Remah Beis Hachaim names him Mohor"r Yoel Sirkis, Av Beis Din of our kehillah, niftar in the year 5400, on the 20th of the month of Adar (14 March 1640). The body of the inscription recounts the kehillos where he served. Your kvittel will be placed on his kever in the Remah Beis Hachaim in Krakow.

Historical background

The Bach zy"a lived in the dor after the Remu zy"a, when the Shulchan Aruch with the Mapah was already the working sefer of psak for Ashkenazishe Yidden, and Polish Jewry was a great Torah center. He wrote on the Tur itself, going back to the sources, in the years when the Megaleh Amukos zy"a was rosh yeshiva and darshan in Krakow, and he was niftar in 5400, a few years before the Tosefos Yom Tov zy"a became rav there, and eight years before the gezeiros of 5408.

Before & after