ר׳ יואל בן שמואל סירקיש

ר׳ יואל בן שמואל סירקיש (1561–1640), known as the ב״ח from בית חדש, was one of the leading halakhic authorities of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Born in Lublin, he studied first with ר׳ נפתלי צבי הירש שור, a disciple of ר׳ משה איסרליש, and then at Brest under ר׳ פייבוש. He served a succession of communities—including Pruzhany, Łuków, Lublin, Medzhybizh, Belz, Szydłów, and Brest—before becoming av bet din and head of the yeshiva in Kraków in 1619. His בית חדש on ארבעה טורים traces rulings back through Talmud, Geonim, Rif, Tosafists, and Rosh, frequently corrects texts, and resists deciding law from abbreviated codes without examining their sources. Published at Kraków from 1631 to 1639, it became inseparable from advanced study of the Tur. His responsa address ritual, civil, commercial, and communal problems and provide valuable evidence for early-seventeenth-century Polish Jewish life. He combined legal independence with respect for Kabbalah while rejecting mystical customs that contradicted halakhah. His students included ר׳ גרשון אשכנזי and ר׳ מנחם מנדל קרוכמל; his son-in-law ר׳ דוד הלוי סגל became known as the ט״ז. He died in Kraków on 14 March 1640 and was buried in the Remuh Cemetery.