Shabbatai ben Meir HaKohen ( Hebrew : שבתי בן מאיר הכהן ; 1621–1662) was a noted 17th century talmudist and halakhist . He became known as the Shakh ( Hebrew : ש"ך ), which is an abbreviation of his most important work, Siftei Kohen ( Hebrew : שפתי כהן ) (literally Lips of the Priest ) on the Shulchan Aruch.
21-509: Shabbatai HaKohen was born either in Amstibovo or in Vilna , Lithuania in 1621 and died at Holleschau , Holešov , Moravia , on the 1st of Adar , 1662. He first studied with his father and in 1633 he entered the yeshivah of Rabbi Joshua Höschel ben Joseph at Tykotzin , moving later to Kraków and Lublin , where he studied under Naphtali Cohen. Returning to Vilna , he married the daughter of
42-531: A church. Valuable items from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are stored in the church. As of 2013, it has 500 residents, nearly twice as many than the 287 residents in 2007. Ezrat Nashim The Ezrat Nashim ( Hebrew : עזרת נשים ) or Vaybershul ( Yiddish : ווײַבערשול ), commonly referred to in English as the women's section or women's gallery , is an area of a synagogue sanctuary reserved exclusively for women. The Ezrat Nashim could be either
63-501: A separate annex, as observed in synagogues like the Altneuschul in Prague and the synagogue of Worms , or an elevated gallery situated within the synagogue sanctuary. If the latter, it is typically located on the west side of the building, though variations exist with some galleries positioned on the north or south sides. In larger synagogues, it is common to find two galleries, one above
84-587: Is a village in Vawkavysk District , Grodno Region , Belarus . It is part of Hnyezna selsoviet . An early settlement [BE] existed in the area in the 12th-13th century under the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , where a wooden fort was built. The village was also home to a palace , sometimes called the Schloss , which had been built by Jogaila as his summer home . Although the first settlers were pagans (hence
105-691: Is evidenced by the selichot that he composed in commemoration of the Chmielnicki tragedies. In 1648 the communities of the Polish Kingdom were devastated by Chmielnicki , Shabbatai HaKohen portrayed the persecutions of the Jews in his Megillah Afah. On the same day 1,500 people were killed in the city of Uman in Russia on the Sabbath. The nobles Cossacks with whom the wicked mob had again made an alliance chased all
126-529: Is separated from the main hall by two arcades. On the first floor there is the women's gallery, decorated with liturgical texts, and the second floor was used as a school. Today, the synagogue is a museum; both floors house the exhibition "The Jews in Moravia". Amstibov Mstsibava or Mstibovo ( Belarusian : Мсцібава , romanized : Mscibava ; Russian : Мстибово ; Polish : Mścibów ; Yiddish : אמסטיבוב , romanized : Amstibov )
147-668: The Shulchan Aruch , was considered by a majority of Talmudists as of the highest authority, and they applied his decisions to actual cases as the final word of the Law. As a logician he stood, perhaps, first among the Talmudic scholars of his age. In addition to his knowledge of the Talmudic law he was versed in the Kabbala , which he used in explaining various passages of the Bible . His mastery of Hebrew
168-681: The Siftei Kohen ( Hebrew : שפתי כהן ) or the Shakh , ( Hebrew : ש"ך ) a commentary on the Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat . This work was approved by the greatest Polish and Lithuanian scholars and since 1674 has been published in most editions of the Yoreh De'ah. Shabbatai HaKohen was regarded by his contemporaries as more than usually learned. He frequently contested the decisions of his predecessors, and followed an entirely new path in
189-716: The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the BSSR was renamed Republic of Belarus , under whose authority Mstibovo remains. Mstibovo was home to an ancient Jewish community, dating back to the Middle Ages (evident from tombstones in the ancient Jewish cemetery). The community, approximately 80 families, lived in the center of the village, where its synagogue was situated. Rabbis in the community's history include Rabbi Meir HaKohen (father of Rabbi Shabbatai HaKohen ), Rabbi David HaLevi Segal , and Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman . During
210-506: The Divine judgment.' Now the villains turned upon them and there was not one of them who did not fall victim. A Synagogue in Holešov is called Shakh Synagogue after Shabbatai HaKohen. It was built in the late 16th century, after the former synagogue had burned down in 1560. In the early 17th century the synagogue was enlarged with a sidehall and a women's gallery . Between 1725 and 1737 the interior
231-512: The Holocaust , in late June 1941, the village's Jews were transported to Vawkavysk and from there to Treblinka where they were gassed to death. Reportedly, there was one survivor who went back to Mstibovo after the war. Mstibovo is currently under the governance of the Hniezna Selsoviet in the Vawkavysk District , Grodno Region , Belarus. The village is home to a school, a library, and
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#1733084826325252-505: The Jews from the city into the fields and vineyards where the villains surrounded them in a circle, stripped them to their skin and ordered them to lie on the ground. The villains spoke to the Jews with friendly and consoling words: 'Why do you want to be killed, strangled and slaughtered like an offering to your God Who poured out His anger upon you without mercy? Would it not be safer for you to worship our gods, our images and crosses and we would form one people which would unite together.' "But
273-736: The holy and faithful people who so often allowed themselves to be murdered for the sake of the Lord, raised their voices together to the Almighty in Heaven and cried: 'Hear o Israel the Lord our God, the Holy One and the King of the Universe, we have been murdered for Thy sake so often already. O Lord God of Israel let us remain faithful to Thee.' Afterward they recited the confession of sins and said: 'We are guilty and thus recognize
294-414: The interpretation of the Talmudic law. He made light, too, of the decisions of his contemporaries, and thus drew on himself the enmity of some among them, including David ben Shmuel HaLevi , author of Ture Zahav , and Aaron Shmuel Kaidanover , author of Birkhat HaZevach , who was the father-in-law of his brother Yonah Menachem Nachum HaKohen. Nevertheless, Sifsei/Siftei/Sifte Kohen , Shakh's commentary on
315-585: The name Mstibovo, named after a pagan deity ), the village later became Christian, with a Catholic church built in 1512 . During the Deluge , the village and its ancient fort were burnt down. The fort was rebuilt in 1715, and in 1770, burnt down again. In 1795, Mstibovo came under Russian rule with the Third Partition of Poland . During the French invasion of Russia in 1812, Napoleon's Grande Armée
336-511: The other. In the mid-19th century, Reform synagogues in Germany and Austria introduced separate pews for men and women on the same floor. Later, Reform congregations in the United States introduced "family seating", whereby congregants sit together irrespective of gender. Many Orthodox synagogues built in the 20th and 21st centuries do not have a separate Ezrat Nashim area, instead partitioning
357-656: The village. In 1921, Mstibovo came under Polish control. In 1939, during World War II, the region was taken by the Russians and incorporated into the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR), and in 1941, it was conquered by the Nazis. During World War II, the town's rector , Mark Burak, was murdered along with 50 parishioners. After the Soviet victory in 1945, Mstibovo was once more part of BSSR. After
378-571: The wealthy Shimon Wolf , a great-grandson of Moses Isserles , and shortly after was appointed to the Beit Din as one of the assistants of Moses ben Isaac Judah Lima , author of Chelkat Mechokek . In 1655, during fighting between Polish forces and the invading Swedish army in the Northern War , Shabbatai HaKohen fled Vilna with the entire Jewish community. After a short stay at Lublin he went to Prague and later to Strážnice in Moravia, from where he
399-510: Was called to the rabbinate of Holešov , where he remained until his death in 1662. While in Holešov, he gained the friendship of Magister Valentino Wiedreich of Leipzig . The Shakh′s grave in the Jewish cemetery of Holešov still exists and is visited by people from all over the world. A portion of his descendants have taken the last name Hakohen Rubin, although their reasons for doing so are unknown. In Kraków in 1646, he published his magnum opus ,
420-528: Was designed in a baroque decoration in the so-called "Polish style". The synagogue is an isolated plain building. It has a rectangular ground plan. In the eastern side of the main hall is the Aron Kodesh , built in the baroque altar style. In the centre of the hall is the bimah , built as an octagonal platform with a metal railing. Some parts of the walls and the vault are decorated with ornamental paintings with herbal and faunal motifs and Hebrew texts. The sidehall
441-521: Was welcomed in Mstibovo. Napoleon appointed a Jew as the village's mayor . Soon after however, the Russians retook the region. In the late nineteenth century, the village grew exponentially, and in 1914, numbered 1,137 residents. During World War I, fighting erupted in Mstibovo, first between the Russians and Germans, and later between the Russians and Polish , which resulted in the partial destruction of
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