Yosef HaCohen Katz, She'erit Yosef

Author of the halachic treatise "Shearis Yosef."

ID: I67071
Name: Yosef (Rabbi) ben Gershon KATZ (KOHN-ZEDEK)
Birth: 1510/1511 in Kraków, Poland. Death: 18 JAN 1590/91 in Krakow, Poland
Occupation: BET 1576 AND 1591 Rabbi of Kraków, Poland
Occupation: Author of "She'erit Yosef" / "Shearit Joseph"
Event: Historical Nickname She'erit Yosef
Father: Mordecai Gershon (Rabbi) KATZ b: ABT 1486
Mother: Falka (Walka) KLAUBER b: ABT 1490

Deborah Kestenbaum added (Aug. 6, 2024):
yesterday at 2:28 PM

Rabbi Yosef Katz Author of She'erit Yosef – Brother-in-Law of the Rema, Leading Halachic Authority, Rabbi and Yeshiva Dean in Kraków
R. Yosef son of R. Mordechai Gershon Katz (ca. 1511-1591), rabbi of Kraków, brother-in-law of the Rema and leading Torah scholar in his times. He was appointed dayan in the Kraków Beit Din in 1541, as a young man. With time, he was promoted to the highest panel of the Beit Din, sitting alongside R. Moshe Segal Landau and R. Moshe Isserles – the Rema (author of HaMapah on the Shulchan Aruch). The Rema later became his brother-in-law when he married Kreindel, the sister of R. Yosef Katz (in 1542, after the passing of the first wife of the Rema, Golda daughter of R. Shachna of Lublin). At the end of a ruling from 1558 (section 78 in the present book, last responsum in the responsa section), the community scribe lists the three dayanim in the following order: R. Moshe Landau, R. Yosef Katz, and the Rema. The Rema, when referring to this ruling in one of his responsa (section 17, 2), humbly writes that he was included as third dayan by default – "I am the least of them"
Apart from his position as dayan, R. Yosef Katz served as yeshiva dean in Kraków, and after the passing of the Rema, he was recognized as the foremost Torah disseminator and community leader in Kraków. He was reputed throughout the Jewish world as an outstanding Torah scholar, posek and halachic authority, and even his brother-in-law the Rema took his rulings into consideration and accepted his teachings. Amongst the Torah leaders who sent R. Yosef Katz their rulings and asked for his opinion was the Maharshal, who despite being known as a resolute individual who would not flatter anyone, writes of him with admiration and self-effacement, describing his own teachings as the discussions of a student before his teacher. One of R. Yosef Katz's Torah enterprises was the publication of Sefer HaAgudah by R. Alexander Suslin HaKohen of Frankfurt, in Kraków 1571, after toiling to proofread and correct it based on an old manuscript he obtained. A year before his passing, R. Yosef Katz brought to print his book She'erit Yosef, comprising for the main part responsa, as well as novellae and commentaries on the Mordechai (on various tractates) and on Tur Choshen Mishpat. She'erit Yosef spread rapidly after its publication amongst the Torah scholars of the generation, who discuss the novellae and rulings found in the book and quote them in their works. These include his contemporaries (disciples of the Rema and the Maharsha) R. Binyamin Aharon Slonik in his book Mas'at Binyamin and R. Yehoshua Falk, the Sema, in his book Derisha UPerisha. R. Yoel Sirkis, the Bach, who succeeded him as rabbi of Kraków, mentions him in his work; followed by R. Shabtai Katz, the Shach, who discusses his teachings several times in his work on the Shulchan Aruch.
His contemporary, R. David Ganz of Prague (disciple of the Rema), describes R. Yosef Katz in his book Tzemach David as bearing four crowns: the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, the crown of royalty and greatness, and the crown of a good name.
His epitaph reads: "…R. Yosef son of R. Mordechai Gershon Katz, rabbi and yeshiva dean here in Kraków for over fifty years…".
(For a detailed biography of R. Yosef Katz, see introduction by R. Moshe David Chechik at the beginning of She'erit Yosef, Zichron Aharon edition, Jerusalem 2017).

ID: I67071

Name: Yosef (Rabbi) ben Gershon KATZ (KOHN-ZEDEK)

Birth: 1510/1511 in Kraków, Poland. Death: 18 JAN 1590/91 in Krakow, Poland

Occupation: BET 1576 AND 1591 Rabbi of Kraków, Poland

Occupation: Author of "She'erit Yosef" / "Shearit Joseph"

Event: Historical Nickname She'erit Yosef

Father: Mordecai Gershon (Rabbi) KATZ b: ABT 1486

Mother: Falka (Walka) KLAUBER b: ABT 1490

Author of the halachic treatise "Shearis Yosef."