Rav Yosef Engel of Cracow zt"l
הרב יוסף בן יהודה אנגל זצ"ל
Cheshvan 1 , 5680
Rav Yosef Engel of Cracow zt"l
Rav Yosef Engel, Rav of Cracow and Vienna, was born in Poland. His Rebbe refused to teach him any longer when he reached the age of twelve, and between that age and his marriage at nineteen, he wrote eleven seforim. Among his seforim were Gilyonei HaShas, Shiv’im Ponim LaTorah, Lekach Tov, Asvan D’Oraysa and Bais HaOtzar, a Talmudic encyclopedia. His only child, Miriam, married the heir to the leadership of the Kotzker Chassidim, but he abdicated that position in order to remain near his father-in-law, Rav Yosef. At age forty-six, Rav Yosef left his wealthy father-in-law’s home and, for the first time, had to seek a living. He found a position as one of several rabbinical judges in Cracow. During World War I, Rav Yosef fled with hundreds of other Rabbonim to Vienna, where he died.
