הסטורי' 2

א''י-

א''י was conquered by the Ottomans in 1517. After the גאנים (1038), we don’t hear about a ישוב in א''י until about 200 years later- the רש משאנץ (aka איש ירושלים) came up to א''י with about 300 תלמידים. They ran there to escape the צרות of the Crusades.

Later on in the 1200s, the רמב''ן went up to א''י and found no מנין in ירושלים. The local Arabs used to bother the Jews. If the Ottomans were there to protect them, it was good for the Jews. Otherwise, they bothered them.

In the 1500s, many Jews flocked to א''י to places where there were settlements. They mainly settled in two places:
1. ירושלים- it was small. Why?
a. In the 1400s, there was an earthquake, therefore it was built up, but it was small.
b. ארבה
c. The Arabs lived there. They weren’t happy that the Jews moved it. The Turks liked the Jews, but they didn’t live there at that time. The Arabs oppressed them terribly.
d. There was tremendous poverty.
2. צפת- why did it thrive?
a. No earthquakes.
b. No locust.
c. They had a pasha watching over them, so the Arabs didn’t oppress them.
d. Weren’t poor-
i. It was a port city. It was the capital of the גליל because it was the crossroad of the port cities. There was a lot of business and they were able to make money.
ii. There were lush fields there:
1. Sheep
a. Wool→ yarn→ fabrics
b. Milk and by products
2. Olives→ oil→ soap and cosmetics.
e. It was a מקום קדוש- תנאים and אמוראים were buried there.

ירושלים-
1. רע''ב- ר' עובדי' מברטנורה (1440- 1516)- he was there to prepare א''י when the Ottomans would capture it. He came from Italy in 1488. What he found was a desert with only 4,000 families. In ירושלים there were only seventy. Things were terrible- they had to pay very high taxes and they had no ספרי תורה. He established a קהילה-
a. Shul
b. תקנות
c. Yeshiva
d. Collected money- he had connections with people in Italy so he had them send money.
At the time that he died, ירושלים was a thriving city.
The רע''ב wrote a פירוש on משניות. The רע''ב to משניות is like רש''י to תנ''ך. By the time he died, ירושלים was ready to be lived in- החזירה עטרה ליושנה.
2. רלב''ח- ר' לוי אבן חביב (1485- 1545)- as a little child in Portugal, he was forced to convert and his father saved him. He moved to Salonika. He finished his father’s ספר, the עין יעקב. When his father died, he moved to ירושלים. He devoted himself to building all of the aspects of the ישוב, financially, physically and spiritually. He became famous in the area of הלכה.
צפת-
1. ר' יעקב בירב (1475-1546)- he was from גולי ספרד, but he didn’t immediately come to צפת. First he went to Fez. At that time he was only eighteen, but they chose him to be the רב. At that time, Fez was one of the most distinguished ישובים. He went to other places until he finally came to צפת. Out of all of the great ת''ח that were there, he was chosen to be the רב.
He was most famous for חידוש הסמיכה- סמיכה started from משה ר'. He gave it to his תלמיד, יהושע- he ordained him as the next leader. In order for one to have סמיכה, he has to:
a. Be in א''י.
b. Has to be רבי to תלמיד.
This was up until the time of the Romans- 100 CE. Then, they made it אסור to give סמיכה. They said that if they were caught, the people and the whole city where the סמיכה was taking place would be punished. Story- ר' יהודה בן בבא saw that to form a ב''ד, people need סמיכה. He took five of his students to a mountain between two cities and gave them סמיכה. He was caught and killed, but his students safely got away. סמיכה continued on for 359 years, until כ''י spread out too much and it was lost. There was no longer a סנהדרין. Right before, הלל השני made the לוח so that we could know when ר''ח and יו''ט is.
ר' יעקב בירב wanted to renew סמיכה. He had an understanding that this was possible to do based on what the רמב''ם says:
a. If all of the ת''ח in א''י agree to it.
b. They give it to only one person. This person can then give it out to other people.
But he says that this needs more clarification. ר' יעקב בירב gathered all of the ת''ח in צפת and they all agreed, and decided that he should be the one to get the סמיכה. He wrote to the רלב''ח, who said that he doesn’t agree. The רלב''ח wrote to the רדב''ז- ר' דוד בן זמרי in מצרים. He agreed with the רלב''ח because:
a. Everyone in א''י had to agree, and the רלב''ח didn’t. Why not? Because the רמב''ם isn’t clear.
b. A decision like this must come out of ירושלים- "כי מציון תצא תורה ודבר ה' ירושלים".
This caused a terrible מחלוקת, and eventually ר' יעקב בירב had to leave צפת. However, he was buried there.
Three reasons that he wanted to renew סמיכה:
a. He felt that as the generations went on and spread out, there was a splintering in halachik decisions by different רבנים. He wanted one central ב''ד that could פסקין very important שאלות.
b. He wanted to prepare כ''י for משיח, because "ואשיבה שופטיך כבראשונה יועציך כבתחילה אחרי כן יקרא לך עיר הצדק קרי' נאמנה ציון במשפט תפדה ושבי' בצדקה"- by judging כ''י properly, they would be ready for משיח.
c. He was from גולי ספרד and so he knew their situation. He saw many אנוסים who came to settle in צפת but they were חייב כרת. The only way for them to do תשובה was with מלקות, which can only be done if there’s a סנהדרין. He had mercy on his brothers- he wanted them to have a complete כפרה.
In צפת, they felt that סמיכה was ok. There were about four rounds given over, and then it died out. A סנהדרין was never set up and they never gave מלקות. ר' יעקב בירב was forced to leave, and he went to דמשק.
סמיכה today is someone who becomes an expert in הלכה. He is tested by his רבי and gets סמיכה. If someone has a שאילה, they can ask him.
2. ר' יוסף קארו (1488- 1575)- he was known as:
a. מחבר
b. בית יוסף
c. מרן
His father was ר' אפרים קארו. He was born in Toledo, Spain. At the age of four, he had to leave Spain and he went to Portugal. Four year later, he had to leave and he went to Istanbul. He stayed in Istanbul until his father died. He was about thirty at that time. He then moved to Adrianople, which was on the Greek- Turkish border. He got married- his wife died, and he got remarried. He was a great ת''ח and learnt with ר' שלמה אלקביץ. Story- one שבועות night, they stayed up learning on תקון ליל שבועות. Suddenly, a בת קול came out and started telling them of the זכות of their learning and that they were מחזיר the crown ליושנה. It said that their learning is בית ה' and you shouldn’t stop. Also said that if they would have been a מנין, it would have been so much greater. The בת קול ended off by saying that it’s a good time to settle in א''י. This made a tremendous impact on ר' יוסף קארו and he ended up moving to צפת. He had a private מלאך that taught him תורה. He wrote the ספר מגיד מישרים- all that he learnt with the מלאך. The מלאך taught him תורה and מוסר. He wrote the בית יוסף and the שלחן ערוך. Why?

ג' עמודי הוראה- people that we lean on for הלכה. We פסקין like them.
a. רי''ף- ר' יצחק אלפסי- he had מנהגי ספרד. He was in the year 1000, which was 500 years after חתיחת הגמרא. He wrote a סכום הגמרא, in the order of the גמרא. He wrote the פסקי הלכה that are נוגע for today. He didn’t include the שקלא וטריא.
b. רמב''ם- ר' משה בן ממון- he was also from ספרד. He wrote משנה תורה יד חזקה- he put the גמרא into fourteen topics and also included הלכות that aren’t נוגע לזמן הזה.
c. רא''ש- ר' אשר בן יחיאל- he was a תלמיד of the מהר''ם. He was from אשכנז, but because of the terrible צרות he ran to Toledo, Spain. He was מסדר the הלכות of the גמרא from the ריף’s time up until himself 200 years later. He also brought in דברי ראשונים.
d. ר' יעקב בעל הטורים- he wrote the ארבע טורים- called the טור for short. He also codified the גמרא into four:
i. אורח חיים- day to day living.
ii. יורה דעה- אסור and היתר.
iii. חושן משפט- דיני ממנות.
iv. אבן העזר- marriage, woman…
But, he didn’t include the מקורות of where in the גמרא he found the הלכות. Also, he didn’t come to one פסק הלכה.
e. ר' יוסף קארו- he wrote:
i. בית יוסף- he both wrote this, and was called this. It’s a פירוש on the טור. He included the מקורות and came to a clear פסק הלכה. How? Generally, he would follow the majority. But sometimes he only followed the רמב''ם.
ii. שלחן ערוך- a shortened version of the בית יוסף. He only writes the פסק הלכה, he leaves out the שקלא וטריא.
כ''י had spread out and there was a split in מנהגים- אשכנז and ספרד. Two-thirds were in ספרד so most of the פסקי הלכה are ספרד. But they couldn’t be used for everything, because in some places אשכנז is different.
f. רמ''א- ר' משה איסרליש-
i. דרכי משה- anywhere in the בית יוסף that the הלכה is different for אשכנז, he wrote it.
ii. מפה- aka הגה- it’s the glosses on the side. This is written based on the שלחן ערוך. Now, all of כ''י is united and there is one ספר ofהלכה.
The מהר''א אבן לב had a ישיבה of sixty students and every student knew a different מסכתא by heart. So, whenever they had to find a מקור, that תלמיד would give it. They didn’t allow the בית יוסף into the ישיבה because that was a shortcut, an easy way out. One day, they were learning and couldn’t find the מקור. So they got the בית יוסף and they looked it up. They took it as a sign to allow the בית יוסף into their ישיבה.

There were three ר' יוסף s:
1. ר' יוסף קארו
2. מהר''א אבן לב
3. ר' יוסף טייטאצק
All three could have been the מחבר of the בית יוסף, but ר' יוסף קארו was chosen because of his extreme ענוה.

Why was he called the בית יוסף?
1. Just like the whole world was sustained from theבית of יוסף because he had food, so too everyone should be sustained from this ספר.
2. This ספר was his עמל so he hoped that it would be his בית in עוה''ב. The מלאך told him this, therefore he called it the בית יוסף.

This ספר was accepted by everyone. Even the רמ''א held ר' יוסף in high esteem and referred to him as "נשיא אלוקים אתה בתוכנו אשר מימיו אנו שותים" and it’s אסור to be ממרה the words of his mouth. Many גדולים held him in high esteem.

ר' יחזקאל אברמסקי was the chief rabbi in London and was once invited to a conference of “Jewish Scholars” but they weren’t of the same השקפה. He went and spoke about the שלחן ערוך. Another rabbi got up and said it’s obsolete and old fashioned, so how could you quote it? There was an uproar, so ר' יחזקאל tried to calm them down. He told them to take out papers and they should every detail that he says. He said a story of judgment and everyone wrote down the story, and it covered a lot. Then he showed them how concise it is in the בית יוסף- in three lines he was able to get everything down. So this shows the חכמה and תורה of specificallyר' יוסף – the fact that this was years ago show his greatness because he was able to consolidate it so much. They accepted his argument.

He spent twenty years writing the בית יוסף and seventeen years reviewing.

He took over as רב in צפת after ר' יעקב בירב.

The שלחן ערוך is divided into thirty sections so that you could finish it in a month. ר' יוסף was able to unite כ''י with one ספר. He died at about the age of eighty-seven.

3. ר' שלמה הלוי אלקביץ (1505- 1584)- he was born in Salonika and before he ended up in צפת he lived in Adrianople. Eventually, he moved to א''י and came up to צפת. He was one of the greatest מקובלים. He is most famous for his פיוט, "לכה דודי". He lived to an old age and learnt תורה בטהרה ובקדושה. He had many תלמידום. He was very beloved by כ''י.
There were local Arabs in צפת who were jealous of the Jews for having such a special leader. They plotted to do away with ר' שלמה הלוי. When he went for a walk in the hills of צפת, Achmad followed him and killed him. He buried him in his yard. The Yidden had no clue where ר' שלמה הלוי was. One day, when it wasn’t in season for trees to grow, a fig tree grew in Achmad’s yard- it was a sensation. The פשתן heard about it and came to check it out. He pressured Achmad to tell him the secret and he told him how ר' שלמה הלוי was buried under there. The Jews found out and reburied him and Achmad was hanged.
4. רמ''ק- ר' משה קורדובו (1522- 1570)- he learnt גמרא and הלכה from the בית יוסף. He learnt קבלה from his brother in law, ר' שלמה הלוי. He became one of the greatest מקובלים in צפת. He wrote two ספרים:
a. פרדס רמונים- it’s a ספר קבלה.
b. תומר דבורה- it’s a ספר מוסר and it’s arranged according to the י''ג מידות הרחמים.
He knew that he was going to die soon. He called in his תלמידים together and told them that he was going to die. He said that he has been told from שמים that one of them will open up his eyes to the light of קבלה. His way of learning will be different, but doesn’t conflict with his own. When I started teaching you תורת חן- חכמה נסתרת, the channels through which it comes down to the world were closed. People before this had a hard time understanding. They had to exert themselves very hard to understand the secrets of קבלה. When I die, these channels will open up and חכמים will understand much more easily. The man who I hinted to already grasp hidden secrets and he’ll teach them to you. His teaching will be greater than mine- accept what he says as the truth. Now, all of the תלמידים were confused- the person who they thought was going to be the רמ''ק’s successor didn’t fit the qualifications because he was not in the room at that time. They begged the רמ''ק to say, but he wouldn’t. The רמ''ק gave a sign- the person who will see an עמוד ענן on the top of the רמ''ק’s ארון, he’ll be the successor. He said goodbye to his תלמידים and died. Everyone came to his לוי', even the Arabs. By the הספד, they called up ר' יצחק מזרחי to speak. Everyone was wondering why him. After the לוי', the person who called up ר' יצחק explained why he did so- as I was burying him, ר' יצחק said that he’s not supposed to be buried there because there is an עמוד ענן and it didn’t stop there. The man understood that if he saw the עמוד ענן, he’s the successor and he should let him give a הספד. This man was the אריז''ל.
5. אריז''ל- ר' יצחק לורי' אשכנזי (1534- 1572)- he was called the ארי. Why?
a. אשכנזי ר' יצחק
b. אדונינו ר' יצחק
c. אמר ר' יצחק
d. He was an ארי- he was head and shoulders above the greatest people of his generation. The children of lions are called גור. His תלמידים were called גורי האריה.
He was born in ירושלים. His father was from אשכנז. His family came from Lorrain- that’s why they are called לורי'. His father died at a young age. His mother was not able to support the family, so she moved them to מצרים because she had a rich brother there- מרדכי פרנסיס. He recognized the ארי’s כוחות and gave him over to learn by the רדב''ז- he was the אב בית דין in אלכסנדרי'. He saw his כשרונות and יראת ה' so he assigned him a special רב- ר' בצלאל אשכנזי (a תלמיד of the רדב''ז). He wrote the ספר, שיטה מקובצת- a compilation of ראשונים on the גמרא in one ספר. The אריז''ל got married at the young age of fifteen- he married his own cousin. Eventually, the רדב''ז left מצרים and ר' בצלאל אשכנזי took over. He learnt with ר' בצלאל for a while until ר' בצלאל left to ירושלים.
The אריז''ל realized that to become the best person he could be, he must separate himself from הבלי עוה''ב. His uncle prepared a hut for him by the נילוס. ר' מרדכי brought him food and he learned intensely, only coming home for שבת. He had גלוי אליהו when he learnt there and he taught him זוהר (written by ר' שמעון בר יוחאי). At night, his נשמה went up to מתיבתא דרקיע. At the gates, they would ask him who he wanted to learn with. He told his תלמידים that he couldn’t record in eighty years what he learnt in one night.
One night, אליהו told him that it’s time for him to go to צפת and make his knowledge known. He was to teach it to ר' חיים ויטאל, and he would write it down and spread it to the world. There were those in צפת who didn’t accept him:
a. רדב''ז- he was living in ירושלים. He felt that the אריז''ל was much too young to be teaching the תלמידים of the רמ''ק. He sent the אריז''ל messages to wait, but he didn’t because the people wanted him and because אליהו said to. The רדב''ז decided to challenge the אריז''ל- he sent ר' בצלאל אשכנזי to “shlug him up” by asking very hard questions. ר' בצלאל came to the shiur and saw the רדב''ז sitting there in amazement. ר' בצלאל was also amazed. When the shiur was over, he went to go find the רדב''ז, but he wasn’t there. He went back to the רדב''ז and the רדב''ז said that he wasn’t at the shiur- realized that it was אליהו. The Villna Gaon says on this story "אשרי" three times:
i. אריז''ל- אליהו came to his shiur.
ii. רדב''ז- רדב''ז assumed his form.
iii. ר' בצלאל - he saw אליהו.
b. ר' חיים ויטאל- everyone thought that he was going to be the רמ''ק’s successor. He didn’t not hear the words of the רמ''ק because he wasn’t there when he died. He couldn’t accept that his friends were learning from the אריז''ל since he taught differently than the רמ''ק. So he didn’t seek the ארי out and the ארי didn’t seek him out. He knew that somehow he’d end up by him, but he wasn’t ready yet.
ר' חיים started having dreams to seek out the אריז''ל. One day he couldn’t resolve some difficulties in קבלה, so he fasted and davened to help him understand. Finally, his dream said that he should go to the אריז''ל and he will teach you. He decided to go see if he could help, then he would truly see his greatness. He came to צפת, and the אריז''ל was in the store he owned, bent over the accounting books. ר' חיים felt disgusted- how could someone involved in such גשמיות be such a great רבי? I should seek him out? So he turned to leave. The אריז''ל realized what was going on, so he said, what did you come to buy? ר' חיים said, I want the goods of עוה''ב and not עוה''ז. The אריז''ל said, I know what you want, and he told him his difficulty and solved it. The אריז''ל’s teachings were so great that he had to daven hard to be זוכה to understand. He became the תלמיד מובהק of the אריז''ל and his job was to write down the אריז''ל’s teachings in the ספר עץ חיים.
Someone went from Istanbul to צפת, and when he came back to Istanbul, he said that the אריז''ל knows everything about everyone. A רשע said, it’s not true, I’ll prove it. He traveled to צפת and on the way he stole horses, wasn’t מקפיד on כשרות, etc. One night, he was sitting with his wine and saying, l’chaim to the אריז''ל. At that moment, the אריז''ל was learning with his students and he smiled. When they asked why he said because he sees that a רשע is on his way to challenge him and he’s not going to succeed- when he comes bring him straight to me. The רשע came and told the אריז''ל that if he can tell him all of his חטאים, he’ll leave his bad ways and do תשובה. The אריז''ל sent everyone out of the room because he didn’t want to embarrass the man (just like יוסף) and he told him every עבירה he ever did. He broke down and begged for a כפרה and the אריז''ל helped him do תשובה. He came back to Istanbul a changed man.
The אריז''ל was able to see new גזירות that would happen. Story- he saw that צפת is going to have ארבה that are going to eat everything because there is a ת''ח who has no food, and no one is helping him. They sent him money. The אריז''ל said that ב''ד של מעלה annulled the decree. He saw the ארבה coming and then stop at the border of צפת. One time, the אריז''ל saw a plague coming because of a politician who exhorted people and took advantage. He decided to learn in order to annul the decree, but it didn’t help. The אריז''ל also got sick from this plague and he died at the age of thirty- eight. We only have two years of teaching from him. He was buried in צפת.
6. ר' חיים ויטאל- he was a תלמיד of the רמ''ק and everyone assumed that he would take over for him. He became the תלמיד מובהק of the אריז''ל. He wrote עץ חיים- קבלה. When he started learning with the אריז''ל, he didn’t understand and he had to fast. The אריז''ל took ר' חיים to the כנרת because they say that the באר מרים is there. He put a flask in and took some water out. He figured that since מרים lived in the דור דעה, the water would help. ר' חיים would write down what the אריז''ל said.
7. ר' ישראל נאגארה- he was one of the greatest מקובלים in צפת. He was a פיטן and put many of his פיוטים to music. Many became זמירות and songs which we have- much based on קבלה, for example "קה רבון...". He reminded the אריז''ל of דוד.
8. האלשיך הקדוש- ר' משה אלשיך- he was a תלמיד of ר' יוסף קארו and became a דין in צפת’s ב''ד. He gave a דרשה every שבת and wrote it into a ספר, "תורת משה"- because people can’t take notes on שבת and they might miss something. He wrote a פירוש on נ''ך called האלשיך הקדוש.
9. ר' אלעזר אזכר- he was a big ת''ח and מקובל. He is famous for composing the זמרה, ידיד נפש- speaks about דבקות to ה'. He also wrote ספר חרדים- about מצות. He set it up according to which מצוה is כנגד which אבר in the גוף.
10. ר' שמואל דיאוזידה- he was the תלמיד of the אריז''ל and ר' חיים ויטאל. He was a מקובל. He wrote a פירוש called מדרש שמואל on פרקי אבות. He was a great ת''ח and had great צדקות.

Up until the 1600s, צפת was having a golden age, thought it wasn’t officially a טור הזהב. But it came to an end. How? By the end of the 1500s, גולי ספרד were not coming in anymore. The population dwindled. Also, the sheep business dwindled and פרנסה decreased. Also, the sultans weren’t as strong in protecting the Jews at this point.

פולין-

This became a haven for Yidden, but primarily אזכנזים escaping the crusades.

For many years, there was no civilization in Poland. Even though they had people, they didn’t rise to greatness- because they had a cold climate and it was hard to get food. Then they discovered that potatoes grow in America, in cold, frozen soil. So they started to grow potatoes in Poland.

Germany was on its west and Russia was on its east. They were constantly fighting over it. At one point there was no Poland because Germany and Russia took it. They had the Carpathian Mountains on their south so the Ottoman Empire couldn’t take over. They had a lot of forests and transported lumber in water. The middle of Poland is flat land and is easy to take over. They had salt and coal mines.

Poland began with tribes and no civilization until the year 1000, when they had a king who accepted Christianity. So they remained Catholic. In the 12 and 1300s, they had feudalism and פריץ- landowners. They had people working for them- serfs. They were slaves who worked and had no life. At that point, Poland was the most advanced country. But it didn’t maintain this status- it didn’t continue to advance so it ended up backwards- they did not get rid of feudalism.

Poland became a center of תורה from the time of גזירות ת''ח and ת''ט, up until Nazism. Because they had a backwards existence, they were shielded from the גויים so they had an easy time learning תורה. The noblemen didn’t want to modernize the country because they like to have wealth and money, so they kept it that way. This allowed תורה to grow greatly. There were Yidden living in Poland from the 1100s- we know from קברים which have dates. Between the 13 and 1400s, the קהילה started growing. By the 1500s, there were 20-30,000 Yidden spread out between the different ישובים.

The peasants hated the Yidden because they didn’t work as serfs, they did their own thing. Some פריצים also hated them. Also the clergy hated them. But in the 1300s, the kings recognized the value of Yidden and protected them.
What type of jobs did they have?
1. Woodcutting- supervise chopping, transporting.
2. Innkeepers- also sold whiskey. The drunk גויים would bother them after they got drunk.
3. Tax collectors for noblemen- noblemen got mad if they didn’t get money and the peasants were mad to pay.
4. Money lending- this is a bad position to be in.
5. Small businesses
a. Peddlers
b. Farmers
c. Collected money- if had no money.
d. מגידים- some ת''ח gave דרשות.

The Yidden flourished in תורה, but in פרנסה it wasn’t so good. פולין - פה לין- the תורה came from אשכנז to be לן here in פולין. The Yidden were very sheltered from the גויים. They dressed like Yidden. They approached business only as a means for פרנסה, then came לימוד התורה. Yiddish began at this time. All שאלות were starting to be brought here to be answered.

The king protected them and invited them. When the Yidden were killed because of a false libel, the king found out and was horrified. So he wrote a letter that if a Jew is accused of killing a גויש'ע child, you need three Christian witnesses and three Jewish witnesses. And until then, the Jew is safe. If the prosecutor can’t bring witnesses, he’ll be punished.

The Jews had self government- they were in shtetels, where were קהילות, and they were in charge of everything. There was no גויש'ע government. The קהילה was even in charge of taxes. In charge of each קהילה was an organization, the ועד קהילה. On the ועד were:
1. עסקנים- many were businessmen who had time to give to the כלל.
2. רבנים

The head of the ועד was the ראש קהילה. The קהילה did the following:
1. Made ב''ד.
2. Supervised חנוך.
3. Organized גמ''חs- lending things without interest.
4. הכנסת אורחים
5. Medical matters
6. Ensuring that everyone had living quarters.
7. Regulated the marketplace.

Poland was divided into four parts. Each part had a ועד הארץ. The different קהילות were in the different parts. For any issue affecting the entire Poland, all the ועד הארץs made a ועד ארבע הארצות, and they met twice a year, in spring and fall in Lublin and Yaraslov (traded between the two). The ועד ארבע הארצות kept a diary of everything that was going on. They:
1. Were in charge of the tax collecting and distributing- this system lasted about 200 years.
2. Made תקנות for חזוק התורה.
3. They serves as ב''ד גדול.
4. They were עוסק in shidduchim.
5. שתדלנים- mediators between the Yidden and the king. Oneשתדלן was ר' שאול וואהל from the city of Brisk. He took no money for his work and taught his children to do the same.

1. ר' יעקב פולק (d. 1530)- he set up a מרכז התורה in Poland. He was responsible for making it a place of תורה from the 1500s until the Holocaust. He set up ישיבות in Poland with a method of פלפול. Some גדולים didn’t accept it. He had many תלמידים. His תלמיד מובהק was ר' שלום שכנא.
2. ר' שלום שכנא- he took over in Lublin. He also פסקיןed as ר' יעקב did, but since he had ענוה, they didn’t leave over their פסק הלכה in writing.
3. רמ''א- ר' משה איסרליש (1530-1572)- he was from the greatest פוסקים of his generation. He is compared by some to the רמב''ם. He wrote מפה on שלחן ערוך and also דרכי משה on the בית יוסף. He had a lot of צרות in his life. His father built a shul and it is still standing today- called the רמ''א shul. He died in ל''ג בעומר and people come to his קבר on ל''ג בעומר. It says on it "ממשה עד משה לא קם כמשה".