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Notes, modifications, and annotations to his magnum opus the Beit Yosef commentary to the Tur. R. Joseph ben Ephraim Caro (1488–1575), author of the Shulhan Arukh. R. Caro was apparently born in Toledo, Castile. It seems that after the expulsion from Spain (1492) his family left for Turkey or Portugal, but it is possible that they left for Portugal even before the expulsion and that R. Caro was born there. It is certain that after the expulsion from Portugal in 1497 the family left for Turkey where R. Caro lived for about 40 years. At first he lived with his family in Istanbul, but subsequently, not later than 1522, he lived in Adrianople, Nikopol, and Salonika. He first studied under his father R. Ephraim, himself a distinguished talmudist. After the death of his father, which occurred while Joseph was still young, he was brought up by his uncle R. Isaac Caro. In Turkey he apparently met with R. Solomon Molcho, whose martyrdom at the stake in 1532 made a deep impression on R. Caro, with the result that he too yearned to meet a martyr's death. He was also influenced by R. Joseph Taitazak, whom he met in Salonika, and by R. Solomon Alkabez, whom he met both there and in Nikopol. In Salonika and in Adrianople there were groups of pietists and kabbalists led by these scholars. In 1522 at the age of 34 he began writing his great work, the Beit Yosef, and in 1536 he left Turkey for Safed. He apparently stayed for some time in Egypt, before going to Safed, and possibly studied there under R. Jacob Berab, but it is also not unlikely that he studied under him in Safed. He was one of the four scholars ordained by Berab in 1538. However, he did not consider his ordination as sufficiently authoritative and in his works he laid it down that "nowadays we have no ordained dayyanim." The bet din of Safed which he headed based its authority on the fact that it was "recognized by the public and was great in wisdom and numbers" and not as an ordained bet din.
After the departure of Berab from Safed in 1538, about three months after the renewal of semikhah, R. Caro was regarded as the leader of the scholars of Safed. His name almost invariably appears first on all documents issued by the bet din and on the rulings and decisions emanating from the scholars of Safed and its battei din. He also apparently served as the head of the communal council of Safed. There were many halakhic differences between him and R. Moses di Trani. R. Caro headed a large yeshiva; according to the testimony of one traveler, 200 pupils attended his lectures at the yeshiva. He wrote hundreds of responsa to halakhic queries addressed to him from the whole of the Diaspora, besides devoting himself to the needs of the community. A few days before his death he ordered a ban to be issued against the Me'or Einayim of Azariah dei Rossi, but died before he could sign it. R. Caro's pupils included R. Moses Cordovero and R. Moses Alsheikh, who was ordained by him.
R. Caro married at least three times. In his works he cites traditions in the names of his three fathers-in-law, R. Hayyim Albalag, R. Isaac Saba, and R. Zechariah Zaksel Ashkenazi, referring to each of them as "mori" ("my teacher"). While he was in Turkey two of his sons and a daughter died. He was survived by three sons, Solomon, Judah, and another (possibly Isaac), who died several years after him. According to one tradition a son of R. Caro was betrothed to the daughter of R. Isaac Luria. His son Judah was born four or five years before his father's death. In R. Caro's responsa Avkat Rokhel (no. 134) there is a note, "Here the master, of blessed memory, left the paper blank. He should have added to the responsum, but was called to the Academy on High." He died in Safed on the 13th of Nisan at the age of 87; as a mnemonic Song of Songs 5:11 was quoted: "His head is as the most fine gold" (paz, "fine gold": numerical value 87). He was buried in Safed where his grave in the old cemetery is visited by thousands annually. |
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... אפריון נמטיי' לכמ"ר מנחם יעקב בכמר אליעזר יהודה אשכנזי (מינקיש) זצ"ל (מק"ק בריסקא דליטא תושב צפת) אשר הדפיסו... הוגה... על יד... ר' יצחק גרשון נר"ו.
בסוף ההסכמה: "היום יו' ה יג ניסן הש"ס [צ"ל: שס"ו] פרסמתי החרם הזה [שבהסכמה] במצוה... החתומים הנ"ל בכל בתי כנסיות פה ק"ק ויניציאה נאם אליעזר לוי שמש הק"ק". יג בניסן חל ביום ה לא בשנת ש"ס ולא בשנת שס"ה אלא בשנת שס"ו, שנת הדפסת הספר.
בדף [2] (לפני דף ההסכמה) המלצה לתמוך במביא לדפוס, בחתימת רבני ויניציאה הנזכרים בהסכמה (ונוספה חתימתו של המגיה ר' יצחק גרשון).
עמ' אחרון: "ויען כי... תמצא...", הועתק מהוצאת שאלוניקי שס"ה.
הסכמת רבני ויניציאה: ר' בן ציון צרפתי, ר' ליב סרוואל ור' ברוך ב"ר שמואל. |
