Question
I am a direct descendant of Rabbi Joel Sirkus. Could you tell me about his contributions to the Jewish Faith? I would be interested to know more about him. Thank you
Answer
Lived 1561-1640 in Poland. He served as Rabbi in many communities and had hundreds of students in the Yeshivot (Rabbinica Academies) that he headed. His corrections of Talmudic texts are universally used until today. His magnum opus was called “Bayit chadash”, or Bach by its acronym, a commentary on Jewish law which is widely used even today.
Rabbi Meir Goldberg