Mordecai Yoffe

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Rabbi Mordecai ben Avraham Yoffe (or Jaffe) (c. 1530, Prague - March 7, 1612, Posen) (Hebrew: מרדכי בן אברהם יפה) was the author of Levush Malkhut, a ten-volume codification of religious laws that particularly stressed the customs of the Jews of Eastern Europe.

Although Rabbi Yoffe was a towering religious figure, his appointment generated a sharp controversy within the community because he was a relative of the Yehudichis. In 1549, opponents of the appointment took their complaint to Queen Bona. She summoned both sides to a hearing, but because only one party appeared she transferred the arbitration of the dispute to rabbis from other communities. In the wake of this case, the queen decided to formalize the election of rabbis and regulate their rights and obligations. A few years later, in 1553, she also formalized the status of the heads of the communities and stipulated procedures for appealing their decisions to the rabbis.

In time, Rabbi Yoffe came to be revered for his incisive wisdom. In addition to his religious occupations, he tended devotedly to the public's needs, finding the time to attend the fairs at Yaroslav and Lublin, where community leaders and rabbis from large communities met to discuss matters of general interest. These meetings were the forerunners of the Council of the Four Lands and the Council of Lithuania.

His father, Abraham b. Joseph, was a pupil of Abraham ben Abigdor. Moses Isserles and Solomon Luria were Jaffe's teachers in rabbinics, while Mattithiah b. Solomon Delacrut was his teacher in Cabala. Jaffe studied also philosophy, astronomy, and mathematics. He was head of a yeshivah in Prague until 1561, when, by order of the emperor Ferdinand, the Jews were expelled from Bohemia. Jaffe then went to Venice and studied astronomy (1561-71). In 1572 he was elected rabbi of Grodno; in 1588, rabbi of Lublin, where he became one of the leaders of the Council of Four Lands. Later Jaffe accepted the rabbinate of Kremenetz. In 1592 he was called as rabbi to Prague; from 1599 until his death he occupied the position of chief rabbi of Posen.

Mordechai Joffe himself could count amongst his ancestors Rashi and before him Hillel, Elnathan (governor of Judea) and ultimately back to King David.

He has living descendents today who value his contribution to Judaism, seeing it as an acknowledgement that all Jews may observe in some form or another.