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=amp23339
TRANSLATION, AMDUR MI PUEBLO NATALE, pp233-239
TRANSLATION BY CHAVA BERG
[This document is a coinuation from =amp22932]
N.B.:  This document consists entirely of remarks on  the"Levushim" of R' Mordechai Jaffe, including its place in Jewishintellectual history.
I have not yet found any additional remarks about the geneology ofthe the JAFFE's.

COPY OF END OF PREVIOUS DOCUMENT:

[SUBSECTION: R; Mordechia Jaffe, Cont.}

	The "Ba'EL HaLevUShIM":  
	As said, R' Mordechai YafeH led in Rabbincial {Yid:POsiQIShER, Responsae} Litrature under the title  "Ba'al HaLevushim".  The name is based on the verse {Yid: Posuk} inMegillat Esther (Chapter 8, Verse {Tet-''Vav} 14 and {Tet-''Zayin} 15), where it says:  
l2
[The following quotation is only from Ch. 8:15]
l1

And Mordechai went out from before the King dressed (Be-Levush) inSkyblue {Heb: techolat} and blinding white {Heb: V-ChoR} and agreat crown of gold and a cape of Ermine  {Heb: V-TaKRiKh BOTz VARGaMoN} 
l2
[I'm not clear where the ermine came from -- sounds a bitlike an hassidic embellishment.  Soncino has:  linen, whichdoes fit the climate better in Susa (SW Iran) I guess.   -sa]
l1

and Royal purple, and the town of Shushan cheered and rejoiced. For the Jews there was light and joy and bliss and substance." Well, so:  His  was called Mordechai, and the book he gave thetitle "Garments of Kingship", 
l2
[The obvious allusion here is to the Divine Attribute ofKingship, as declaimed on Rosh HaShana }
l1

divided into ten smaller books, parts under the following names:

A):  "Garment of Skyblue" {Heb: Ha-TeKoLoT"}, in which he dealswith all laws {Yid: DINIM} of the "Tur" and the "Shulchan AruckhOrakh Chaim" up to the laws of Shabbat, according to the order ofearly Poskim {end text p232}
=================================================================
START INPUT OF TRANSLATION
Start ms. p1
{Start text p233}
------------------------------------------------------------------
L2
[Translator now translates Hebrew numerals by numbers, notletters.]
l1

2) "Garment of Blinding White":  Deals with all laws of Shabbat

3)  "Dressed in a Crown of Gold":  All laws of "Yoreh Deah" --what is kosher, what is treif, meat and milk, mixtures, etc.

4)  "Dressed in Hermine [TR: sic.:  ermine?] and Royal Purple": On the laws of Family Life, which are found in "Shulchan ArukhEven Ha'Ezer"

5)  "Garment of the City of Sushan":  On all Laws ofJurisprudence, according to the Order of "Choshen Mishpat"

6)  "Garment of Aura":  A Commentary on Rashi and otherCommentaries of Torah
l2
[I assume that means:  a super-commentary upon the Commentaryof Rashi, and upon the commentaries of other "Commentators"]
l1
7)  "Garment of Joy and Happiness":  Drashos -- Speeches,Expositions, on the Holy Days, Weddings and Circumcisions (ThisSefer is still in Manuscript Form if I do not err)
l2
[I assume that comment is by the author; whose book was firstpublished in 1952; and not subsequently revised for the 1972edition.]
l1
8) "Garment of the Light of Treasures" which is subdivided intosmaller Books under the titles "Garment of the Treasure Corner" onthe "Guide to the Perplexed" of the Rambam.

9)  "Garment of the Dear Treasure":  On Astronomy

10) "Garment of the Precious Stone":  On Kaballah
{end ms.  1}

All the names of the 10 parts of the great Book, "Garments ofRoyalty" are to be found in the nouns of the cited two verses ofPsukim im Megillat Esther [the Scroll of Esther]  which talk aboutthe wardrobe of Mordechai when he was installed as Grand Vizerinstead of Haman.
	
{INTELLECTUAL ANTECEDENTS OF THE COMPENDIUM OF RELIGIOUS LAW IN R'MORDECHAI JAFFE's "LEVUSHIM"}

	Reb Mordechai Jeffe carried around with him for many yearsthe thought to condense and condify all the Dimim and Halachos(Laws) which are to be found in the Sea of Talmud in a nonsystematic form.  The first one who sought to do this was R'YITZCHAK ALFAS of the town of Fass (Fez) in Africa, who reducedthe Talmud to its Halachic Part and the laws which were {end textp233}
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{start text p234}

practiced after the destruction of the Temple [TR:  That is, theSecond Temple, destroyed by the Romans 62 C.E.] , leaving asidethose which were pertinent before the destruction of the Temple,which is called in Rabbinical literature under the title "TheALIAS" or "The RIF", an abbreviation of R' Itzchak Rasi [born1013, passed away 1103].
l2
[TR Note:  It might be interesting to note that some of thethe Laws the RIF "discarded" as inapplicable fo rhis time hadto be unearthed and polished by rabbinical authorities some830 years after his passing, when the Jews came back to theland of Israel to resettle it:  for example, the laws ofShmita.]
l1

	More daring in this area was R' Moshe bar Maimon, the RaMBaM(born 1130, passed away 1205) who created the great and giganticessay, "Mishneh Torah" or "Yad HaChasakah" of the Torah -- or "thestrong hand")  - divided into 14 books :  14 is the numericalvalue of the [numeric values of the Hebrew letters in the ] word"Yad"  - and which covers all the laws (dinim and Halachos)
l2
[What are dinim, and what is the distinction between dinimand halachot ?  -sa]
l1
of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud, and the Responsae of theearly Gaonoim.   
l2
[Gaon:  Title of Heads of Yeshivot in Sura and Pumpeditha inBabylon -- TR .   Used again the in 19th century as anhonorific for a Rabbi of pre-eminent halachic knowlege, egthe Gaon of Vilna.  Loosely translated 'genius'. -sa]
l1
All the books of the RaMBaM were written in the Arabic language,with the exception of "Yad Hachazaka", which was written inHebrew; and that is the secret of its popularity and accessability for all levels of students.  If that book had been, chet v'shalom
l2
[GLOSSARY;  Chet v'shalom; pron. Ash.: chas v'shalom:  Lit: a sin against peace:  Conventional interjection, 'may itnever occur', used (in my opinion, a bit superstitiously) toward off the possible occurrence of something of which one isspeaking. -- sa]
l1
authored in Arabic, and had been translated into Hebrew, by theTVUNS or ALLCHEREISSIS 
l2
[TR could not find translations  of those terms:  probablytypes of persons in the history of Jewish scholarship whotranslated medieval Jewish sacred works from Arabic toHebrew}
l1
it would not have reached the popularity in the world of learners(Yid:  Lomdisher Welt) and would have remained only for a fewlucky ones, an elitist
{end ms. p3}
minority, a few counted Yechidei-Segula {TRANSLATION?}, ashappened with the "Guide to the Perplexed"[of Maimonides, theRaMBAM] 
l2
[Yet nowadays the Guide to the Perplexed is widely purchased, if not necessarily read.  But orthodox Jewish scholarlytradition is structured as a strict exegesis of text; and somust always be referenced back to the original text, andcannot be based on a  translation.  To this day, priority inorthodox Jewish education seems to be given to learning, andmuch honor given to learning by memory, the original text. sa]
l1
and other books of the Middle Ages.

	The great Gaon R' Mordechia Bar Hillel Ashkenazy, authoredthe book "Sefer HaMordechai" [TR:  Book of Mordechai] on theHalachos of Altas, which deals with all Dimim of the Gemara,Rashi, and Tosofos.  He lived in the 13th centruy, was born inAustria, and was killed for Kiddush-HaSHEM  
l2
[ TR: Sanctification of the Holy NAME -- TR]
[The analogous Christian term is `martyred', fr.  Greekmartyros, one who bears witness.  The notion of 'bearingwitness' is retained by the Society of Friends (Quakers), inthe sense of risking political retaliation by publicallyprotesting and refusing to collaborate in governmentalactions which they deem immoral; eg warfare. -sa]
l1
together with his wife and children in the unworthy torn ofNurnberg
l2
[TR:  A  town  of ill repute; subsequently noted for the NaziNurnberg laws (enactments against the Jewish citizens ofGermany), which precipitated "Krystalnacht"
l3
[Krystallnacht:  Sardonic term given by the Nazis to anight in which Nazis were first turned loose to destroyJewish property, particularly synagogues; the sardonicreferent is to smashed windows, chandeliers, etc.   I amnot clear whether Nurnberg was a center of thatactivity, or merely one location.]
l2
and the slaughter of European Jewry known as the "Holocuast" 
[although some  prefer the term, "Shoah"].  Subsequently siteof the post-war Nurnberg [USA spelling:  Nurenberg] WarCrimes trials, in which a few German leaders were foundguilty of capital and other crimes against  hunanity.]
l1
on erev Shabbos Menachem Av 1293.  Said date is not exact becasueseveral Jewish historians are of the opinion that he perishedfifty years earlier. {end ms.p 4 in next sentence) 

	In the same way went R' ASHER BAR YECHIEL {start ms. p5}, forshort under the name "ROSh", born in Germany in the year 1250 and 
-----------------------------------------------------------------

{start text p235}
passed away in Toledo Spain in 1328.    The "Kizzur HaTalmud"[Condensed ("abbreviated") Talmud] of the Rosh goes bound togetherwith the text  of the Talmud in the big editions of the latter. The RIF, RaMBAM, and ROSH are considered the greatest codifiersand are called "the three pillars of instruction"
l2
[TR:  The author's Yiddish translation of the Hebrew term"Shalosh Amudei HaHora'ah" is slightly different:  "the threepillars of jurisprudence"] 
l1
	A very great, colossal work in the same area was  authored bythe great Gaon, Yakov bar Asher, a son of the above-mentionedROSH, under the name TURIM [Towers].  Said composition into fourgreat books with the names "Tur Orech Chaim", "Tur Yoreh Deah""Tur even Ha'ezer" and "Tur Choshen Mishpat", which contain allthe Dinim in the Babylonian [Talmud - TR], Jerusalem [Talmud -TR], Responsae of the Ga'onim  [Heads of Yeshivot in Sura andPumpeditha in Babylon -- TR ] and the Halachos of his father, TheROSH.  The "Tur" is considered as the greatest Posek [TR: Posek: binding law decider]
l2
{Glossary:  Posek:  TR:  Binding law decider.
 That is:  condification of religious law, accepted asdecisive for arbitration. -sa}
l1
in the Rabbinical world.  He also authored the Commenatary on Toraunder the Title "Ba'al Ha-Turim", and is printed, in abbreviatedform, in 
{end ms. 5, start ms. p6}

all the editions of the "Five Books of the Torah", ChamishChumeshi Torah.  
	R' Yakov Baal HaTurim was born in Germany and passed away inToledo in 1340.  The year of his brith is not known and the dateof his passing is also not determined.  It is only known that in1305 he emigrated from Germany to Syria together with his father,the ROSH of blessed memory.  On his gravestone is documented theParasha
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{Glossary:  Parasha:  Weekly Tora portion, as read insynagogue}
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and the month but not the year of his passing. 
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[Recheck text: did author neglect to say that day of themonth was included on the tombstone?  Is it possible that itmight not have been?]
l1

	After the Ba'al HaTurim came the colossal Posek R' YosefKaro, who created his great book, "Shulchan Aruch" 
l2
[Shulchan Aruch:  Lit:  Set table.  "Shulchan Aruch" also refers to the stage at the Seder in which one eats dinner;that is, the reward after re-living the exodus from theslavery of Egypt; in that apt metaphor, the halachot areimaged not as obligations, but as reward; as the corallariesof the revelation at Sinai on Shavuot  -- sa]
l1
 a digest of all the Dinim which were colleced by his predecessorR' Yakov Baa'al HaTurim and by himself in his great work "BeitYosef".

The author of the last-mentioned book and the "Shulchan Aruch" isconsidered as the last great Posek of the Rishonim [earliestauthorities - TR}
l2
{Glossary:  Rishonim:  Earliest authorities} 
l1
and  of the greatest rabbinical authorities in JewishJurisprudence, especially among Sefardi Jews .
l2
[That is:  R. Josef Caro , author of the compendium ofhalachot in "Beit Josef", and his summary listing ofsamein"Shulchan Aruch" is considered a pre-eminent authority onhalacha, particularly for Sfardim. ]
l1

	R.  MOSHE ISSERLIS, short REMA, made a short form of his book"Derechai Moshe" [The Ways of Moshe) and Aadded to the ShulchanAruch" the dinim which the "Beit Yosef" left out.  That composition is called in the [Jewish] Legislative world by thename "Mappah" [ tablecloth], meaning, he spread the [ie, set, uponthe previously constructed] table of his contemporary. 
                                
	R' Yosef Caro  was born in Spain int he year 5248 accordingto Jewish time-reckoning and passed away in Tzfat, eretz Israel,in the year 5335, accroding to reckoning of the creation of theworld, or in 1574 according to Christian reckoning.
	The REMA was born in Cracow in the year 1520 and  passed awayin 1572.  
	The first reached an age of 87 years while the second -- 52. Also the dates of birth and passing of the latter are inexact,because ome want to have it that he passed away very young.  
	A legend tells that he passed away at the age of 33 yars --Lamed Gimmel.  (As ______ in Hebrew on Lag B'Omer in the yearshalag or sheleg [snow in Hebrew] and on this day in Cracow fellsnow ... It is naturally nothing more than a legend because it isunnatural that in Cracow shall fall snow on the 18th day of themonth of Iyar, the date of Lag B'Omer [usually in June -- TR].

	It is worth noting that the {end ms. p7}
great Gaon R' David Segal, author of the book "Turei Zahav",abbreviated TAZ-- A Commentary on all  Four "Turim" [Towers; Turei Zahav means Golden Towers" - TR]  and the "Shulchan Aruch"writes in his book on "Orech Chaim" Paragraph 420, that the REMAwas Niftar [passed away] on Lag B'Omer in the year Sheleg.  Fromthis is probably taken the above-mentioned combination of theNumbers:  33.
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[That is:  the tradition that he died at age  33 is probablyfalse, and derived from the tradition that he passed  away onLag B'Omer, which is the 33 day of the counting of the Omer. {sa}]
l1
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{start text  p237}

	I would like to mention here that with the above-mentionedposkim I by far did not exhaust the nubmer of works on PiskeiHalachos [Decisions in Jewish Law  -TR]; but the purpose of thepresent work is not to give the history of the Poskim and also nota treatise about their compilations.

	R' Mordechai Yaffee know about all the authors of halachicdigests from the Talmud, and not with all of them was he happy.  
l3
[Again, what is of interest in a language, and merits abilingual approach to translation, is not theincongruity of juxtaposing a different syntax,  but theshaping of more apt terms and forms  of expression. ]
l1

And so he planned to write a book on the same subject, in which hewanted to perfect that which the previous authorities had missed. Finding himself in Italy [or:  soujouring in Italy - TR] he wasaware that R' Yosef Caro, the author of "Beis Yosef" was about topublish his book "Birvrei HaPoskim" [Clarifications of Poskim -TR] or "Shulchan Aruch" according to the outlines of his book"Beit Yosef"; and he, R' Mordechai Yaffe, abandoned the thought towrite his intended work.  Meanwhile the "Shulchan Aruch" ispublished and R' Mordechai Yaffee realizes that said book is notperfect because of its brevity and does not explain the reasonsand motives of all extracted laws, dinim, 
l2
[I'm not clear if the TR here gives 'dinim' as the originalof what was translated as 'laws', or whether there are twoconcepts in the original]
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and he sits down to continue to write his projected book in whichhe wants to give all dinim of the Chachtiei Ashkenaz [Ashkenazyscholars].  (The author of the 'Beit Yosef' was a Sefardi andocnsequently, his compilation contains only the dinim andminchagim [practices, customs] of the Sefardim).  
	He [R. Mordechia Jaffee]  was aware, though, that his Rebbe[TR:  Rebbe is here used in the sense of 'teacher'] R' MosheIsserlis, the above-mentioned REMA,  is already busy with saidwork about halacha; he starts to write his work "Levush PinatYekarot" on the "Guide to the Perplexed" by RaMBaM (Finished inthe month of Av of the year 5349 [1589] and printed for the fisttime six years later in 1594, with other books.)

	But when he recieved the "Shulchan Aruch" by R' Yosef Karo,printed together with the "Mappah" (Table-cloth) of REMA, hedecides to write down his great  work under the name "Levushim"[Garments] which is the middle way, a compromise  {end ms. p9}
{start ms. p10}
between the long "Beit Yosef" and its summary the "ShulchanAruch".  
	Of the LEVUSH book there appeared only the following fiveparts:  "Levush Techolet" [Garment of Sky-blue], "Levush Hachor"[Garment of ?Byssus?"]- on the Dinim of "Orech Chaim"; "LevushAteret Zahav" on "Yoreh Deah"; "Levush Botr Ve'Argaman" , [Garmentof white linen and Purple] on "Even Ezrah", and "Levush IrShusahan, [Garments of the City of Shushan], on"Choshen Mishpat."
 
	It is woroh mentioning at this opportunity that the greatGaon R' Yomtov  Lipman Heller, the author of the great sefer
l3
{Glossry:  Sefer: Lit: book; but as used:  A book,oriented along the lines of Jewish  orthodoxy,  onJewish religious matters.}                     
l1
"Tosfos Yomtov" on Mishnayot 
l3
(GLOSSARY: Mishnaynot:  the teachings that comprise theMishna;of which the Talmud is the compilation ofcommentaries.}
L1
(Born in Wallerstein in the year 5339 - 1579; and passed away  inKrakow in the year 5414 - 1654) wrote a critique on the "Levush"under the title "Malbushei Yomtov", Garments of Yomtov.

	R' Mordechai writes in his forward to the first five parts ofthe "Levushim":  He wanted to to write his work after theappearance of the "Tur" because he calculated that for the greatGaon R' Yakov  Ba'al Ha-Turim his book is a short form of theDinim, but for [? missing word?] it is too long, and thereforewill he, R' Mordechia Yaffee, write a short work. R' Yosef Karo,though, was faster than him.  The "Shulchan Aruch", though did notplease him because 
{end ms. p10}
of its all-too-great brevity and it does not satisfy thoseinterested in it, because it is like a sealed book and dreamwithout explanation, and as if everything was a law given to Mosheat Sinai, without any [TR discernment --  don't know if this is asynonym for 'loigical explanations'], logical explanations 
l2
[TR notes Hebrew was Ta'am, lit. simple; I suppose thatcarries the force and supports the translation of 'withoutlogical explanations']
l1
"because he shortened it very much and will not satify those whowant to immerse themsevles, go deeper, being like a closed bookanda dream without interpretation and as if everything was a lawof Mount Sinai without explanation."
l2
[TR notes thst the redudnancy comes from the fist part beingthe original Hebrew and the second part Yididya Efron'stranslation of it into Yiddish.]
l1
On the Sefer of his Rav [TR: Rebbe], the REMA, he writes:  "Hisways are not my ways; he wrote his words without  reasoning[Ta'am] .  He set a table full with all kinds of food, wellprepared but without salt, because a Din [TR: Law] without amotive [ that  is: presented  without also presentng the intentionbehind the law] is like a dish without salt ."
	The Levush uses a very clear and explicit language. His {endms. p11} interpretation of the Dinim is full of sound logic [TR:lit.  'healthy logic"].  He was a stron opponent of Pilpul
l2
{GLOSSARY:  Pilpul.  Lit, pepper.  Dialectic argument in thecontext of traditional Jewish exegesis.  TR notes that it issometimes derogatively termed 'hair-splitting', but is oftenactually a subborn intellectual effort to grasp the subjectfrm as many angles as possible and to get to the underlyingprinciple of it; also:  to use all one's intellectualcapacity to understand and internatllize the Divine Intellectclothed in it;.  TR adds: For exemplary examples of such"pilpul" Cf. many Sichot and Ma'amarim, especially in ChjabadChassidus; also Cf. the Tanya of Shneur Zalman of Liadi [thefirst Lubavitcher Rebbe ].} 
l1
which "cripples the thought, being, to  the opposite, a personwith a clear mind a strictly systematic in his learning andwriting."
	Because of this  the "Levushim" were  not accepted in theRabbonic and legislative [Poskish] world. The true authorities inthe area of "Poskei Halacha" retained for the Jews of the entireworld -- the "Tur" and the "Shulchan Aruch".

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END TRANSLATION TO DATE, 19 Jun 96
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TO DATE NONE OF MY CORRECTED TEXT HAS BEEN RETURNED TO ME B THETRNASLATOR FOR RE-CORRECTION.                                     




7)  