יוסף באב"ד

Rav Yosef Babad (24 Elul 5561/1801–24 Elul 5634/1874) was a rav and posek in Galicia, known to every lomdan by his monumental work, the Minchat Chinuch. He was born in Przeworsk, where his father, Rav Moshe, was rav of the city; his grandfather was Rav Yehoshua Heshel Babad, rav of Ternopil and author of the responsa Sefer Yehoshua. From his youth he stood out for his diligence. In his first marriage he was wed to a sister of Rav Chaim Halberstam, the Sanzer Rav, with whom he learned for a long stretch; after her passing he married a daughter of Rav David Hager of Zablatov, son of Rav Menachem Mendel of Kosov.

He served in the rabbanut of Bohorodczany, Zbarizh, Sniatyn, and Horodenka, and in 5617/1857 was appointed rav of Ternopil — the city his grandfather had led — a position he held to the end of his life. He was close to the Chassidic rebbes of Galicia, a chassid of Rav Naftali of Ropshitz who also traveled to Rav Shimon of Yaroslav and to the Sar Shalom of Belz, and a close friend of Rav Yosef Shaul Nathanson. He was niftar on the very Hebrew date of his birth, 24 Elul, and left seven children; his son Rav Shimon Babad succeeded him in Ternopil and published glosses to his father’s work.

The Minchat Chinuch is a lamdanic commentary on the Sefer HaChinuch, following its march through the taryag mitzvot but opening each into a wide analysis of its sources in the Talmud and Rishonim. It sets out to isolate the underlying concepts of a mitzvah, often through uncommon test cases, and deliberately withholds practical rulings — which is exactly what made it a starting point for conceptual analysis in the yeshivot, where it is learned to this day, and the subject of many later commentaries of its own. His other works include Mishpat Shalom on Choshen Mishpat, chiddushim on the Rif to Berachot, and glosses on the Rambam printed in the Frankel edition of the Mishneh Torah.