יהושע העשיל בן יוסף

Rabbi Yehoshua Heshel ben Yosef of Krakow (c. 5338/1578–5408/1648), known as Rebbe Yehoshua Charif for his sharpness, was among the leading rabbanim of Poland and Lita in the generation before gezeirot tach v’tat. Born in Vilna, he learned under Rabbi Shmuel of Przemysl, under Rabbi Yehoshua Falk, author of the Sma, and in Lublin under the Maharam of Lublin. He served as rav of Grodno, Tiktin, Przemysl and Lvov, and from 1639 led the yeshiva of Krakow, succeeding Rabbi Nosson Shapira, the Megaleh Amukot. A man of means, he took no salary for his rabbanut in Krakow.

His yeshiva drew talmidim from across Poland, and its greatness is measured by who sat in it: Rabbi Shabtai HaKohen, the Shach; Rabbi Gershon Ashkenazi, author of Avodat HaGershuni; and Rabbi Menachem Mendel Auerbach, author of Ateret Zekeinim, were among his students.

He is remembered above all for Maginei Shlomo, a work defending Rashi from the questions of the Tosafot — the introduction to the sefer records that Rashi appeared to him in a dream to thank him for standing in his defense. His responsa were printed after his passing as She’eilot u’Teshuvos Pnei Yehoshua (Amsterdam, 1715); his great-great-grandson Rabbi Yaakov Yehoshua Falk later gave his famed commentary on Shas the same name in his honor. In psak he built directly on the Gemara and the rishonim, and where his analysis demanded it he did not hesitate to differ even with the Shulchan Aruch — while writing of the Beit Yosef with reverence.