Rav Yehoshua Heschel Charif of Krakow zt"l
הרב יהושע העשיל בן יוסף חריף זצ"ל
Av 27 , 5408
Rav Yehoshua Heschel Charif of Krakow zt"l
His wife was called Miriam.
Rav Yehoshua was a talmid of the Maharam of Lublin and a talmid of Rav Yehoshua Falk, the mechaber of the Sem”a. He served as the head of the rabbinical court of Lvov outside the city. He authored two famous works: Maginei Shlomo on the Talmud, where he defends the opinion of Rav Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi) against the authors of the Tosfos, and the responsa Pnei Yehoshua (not to be confused with the commentary on the Talmud of the same name, authored by his grandson and namesake).
His son Rav Moshe’s daughter, Teivel, married Rav Shmuel Shmelke Margolis, Av Bais Din of Elkish. Their son was Rav Elozor Roke’ach of Brody and Rav of Amsterdam, mechaber of Maasei Roke’ach.
Rav Yehoshua Heschel served in Grodno, Premisla, Lvov and finally in Cracow. Later in his life, he accepted the position of Rosh Yeshiva in Cracow alongside Rav YomTov Lipman Heller, the mechaber of Tosfos YomTov, who served as the Av Bais Din.
As he lay on his deathbed, he turned to the heads of the community who surrounded him, saying, “Make way for Rashi, whom I defended, for he is coming to escort me to the Next World.”
He was laid to rest in the ancient Bais HaChaim adjacent to the Rema shul, near such Tzaddikim as the Rebbe Reb Heschel and the Bach.
His son Rav Moshe’s daughter, Teivel, married Rav Shmuel Shmelke Margolis, Av Bais Din of Elkish. Their son was Rav Elozor Roke’ach of Brody and Rav of Amsterdam, mechaber of Maasei Roke’ach.
Stories of Rav Yehoshua Heschel Charif of Krakow zt"l
In the work Ir Hatzedek p.85–6 are a few stories explaining Rav Yehoshua’s practice in defending Rashi’s position and how he came to author the work Maginei Shlomo.
Rav Meir, the father of Rabbi Shabsai Cohen (famed mechaber of the commentary Sha”ch on Shulchon Aruch) studied Gemora together with Rav Yehoshua. They agreed that when they studied a new sugya they would refrain from referring to Rashi and Tosfos commentaries and instead attempt to each arrive at his own understanding of the topic. Invariably, when they would discuss their understanding, Rav Meir’s opinion was always consistent with the comments of the Tosfos, whereas Rav Yehoshua’s was always in accordance with Rashi. And so Rav Yehoshua would then defend Rashi’s position (which was his own as well) against the questions of the Tosfos. As a reward for his diligence and alacrity in defending Rashi, his grandson would relate that he once told his students that Rashi himself appeared to him in a vision and congratulated him, saying, “Happy is your lot and portion in the Next World for defending me against those ferocious lions, the Tosfos!”