Tonight, the seventh night of Chanukah and the first day of the new month of Tevet is also the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Yair Chaim Bacharach (Leipnig, Moravia, 1638 - Worms, Germany, 1702), author of Chavas Yair, a highly popular book of responsa. He was originally given the name Chaim, but a childhood illness prompted his parents to add the name Yair, so that the translation of his full name became “he shall light up life.” Rabbi Yair was a descendant of a distinguished rabbinical family. He was the great-great-grandson of the famous Maharal of Prague (Rabbi Yehudah ben Betzalel Lowe). Both his father Samson and his grandfather Abraham were communal rabbis of the city of Worms, Germany. Rabbi Yair Chaim was a great scholar and was recognized as one of the leading halachic authorities of the time. He was also a prolific writer. Most of his 40+ manuscripts on halacha were lost to posterity because he could not cover the printing expenses. Fortunately, a grant by Samuel Wertheimer, a wealthy Viennese Jew, paid for the publication of Rabbi Yair Chaim’s legal responsa, which were received with acclaim by rabbinic scholars. The name of the work, Chavat(s) Yair, has a double meaning. The literal translation is “The Farms of Yair”. Its rendition in Yiddish is “Chava’s Yair”. The book was actually named after his grandmother Chava (Eve), who was a granddaughter of the Maharal of Prague. Chava, a talmudic scholar in her own right, was actually consulted by rabbis. Her husband and Rabbi Yair Chaim’s grandfather, Rabbi Abraham Bacharach of Worms, was murdered at the age of 40 in a pogrom on Good Friday of 1615. Chava Bacharach was left with four young children. The tragedy forced her to postpone the fulfillment of a cherished ambition to settle in Palestine. She decided not to leave until her children were grown and in households of their own. She finally left for the Holy Land after her grandson Yair Chaim became a Bar Mitzvah but tragically, she died in transit in Sofia, Bulgaria where she was buried in the cemetery of the Jewish community. Despite Rabbi Yair Chaim’s respect for his grandmother’s scholarship, he refused to grant women greater religious equality. Thus, when a man without sons left a will in which he requested that his daughter recite Kaddish for him, Rabbi Yair Chaim ruled against it because it constituted a departure from tradition. Any innovation, he argued, might open the door to numerous novel religious practices which would weaken the force of tradition. However, it is interesting, in light of his Chanukah Yahrzeit, that he did promise that women who sit by the Chanukah candles for a half hour will merit peace of mind for the entire year. Another of Rabbi Yair Chaim’s works, Mekor Chaim, a major commentary on the Shulchan Arch/Orach Chaim was ready to be printed when the commentaries of Taz and Magen Avraham on the same subject were printed. Sadly, Rabbi Yair Chaim withdrew his own commentary. Besides his halachic expertise, Rabbi Yair Chaim had mastery of mathematics, the sciences and music, along with a deep interest in history. In fact, he wrote a work on astronomy from the perspective of the Torah, but then felt his expertise on the subject did not warrant publishing the work and he ordered it destroyed. He was opposed to the study of kabbalah, finding it “dangerous.” In general, his halachic rulings tended to be cautious and stringent. Rabbi Yair Chaim served briefly as rabbi of Mainz and also of Coblentz and then returned to reside in Worms as a scholar and teacher of Torah. Shortly before his death, his father, Rabbi Samson, asked the community to appoint his son in his place. But the community failed to select him, choosing instead Rabbi Aaron Teomim-Frankel. Rabbi Yair Chaim wrote a criticism of Rabbi Teomim-Frankel’s commentary on the Passover Haggadah, but suppressed its publication. In 1689 the Worms community was decimated by war with the French. Gradually, it was rebuilt. Rabbi Yair Chaim had prematurely aged and was soon to lose his hearing. In 1699, he was finally appointed rabbi of Worms where his father and grandfather had served before him. He served for only three years until his death in 1702. The inscription on his tombstone begins with the words, “A great and dark horror befalls us from the hiding of the light of our Rabbi...” One may detect a sense of regret that perhaps Worms had not properly treated the giant within their midst. Rabbi Yair Chaim’s most famous student was Rabbi David Oppenheimer geni/people/Yair-Jair-Bachrach/6000000002760638437 (Posted by Edna Kalka Grossman)
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 00:00:01 +0000
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