Rabbi Yair Chaim Bacharach, a German Rov born in Leipnik Moravia in 1639 was considered one of the greatest Poskim of the seventeenth century and is best known for his Sheelos and Teshuvos entitled Chavos Yair. The wealthy Viennese court Jew, Rabbi Shimshon Wertheimer, subsidized the printing of this Sefer in 1699, only three years before the passing of Rabbi Chaim Yair Bacharach in Worms .
It is from the introduction to this Sefer that we learn of the tremendous esteem Rabbi Yair Chaim held for his grandmother Chava Bachrach whose name “Chava” he incorporates into the title of his rabbinic responsa.
Family Background of Chava Bacharach
Chava Bacharach was steeped in Torah knowledge and rabbinic literature. She was raised amidst Talmidei Chachaim. Her mother was Faygie Cohen Katz, the daughter of the Maharal of Prague. Her father, Rabbi Yitzchok ben Shimshon HaKohen Katz, a brilliant Talmid Chacham was known as the Darshan of Prague and later became Rav of Stepan , Volhynia. Her two brothers were renown Gaonim: Rav Chaim Katz became Rav of Frankfurt and later Posen and her brother Rav Naftali Katz, Rav of Lublin was the mechaber of the Smichas Chachamim.
At age 20 Chava married Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Bacharach,who was a Talmid of both her grandfather the Maharal as well as of her father, Rav Yitzchok Katz.
The wedding took place in Prague in 1600. Soon after the wedding Rav Avraham Auerbach served as Rav in Turbin and Kolin (Bohemia), as well as in Pohrlitz (Moravia) before being appointed Av Beis Din in the very important congregation of Worms in 1609. Worms at that time was the second largest Jewish community in Germany.
Rebbetzin Bacharach’s Erudition
In the Memorbuch of Worms , special mention is made of Rebbetzin Chava Bacharach’s erudition. She was so learned that Rabbanim would approach her for help in solving textual difficulties and understanding obscure passages. She was considered a Baki Behalacha and an expert on Rashi.
The Chavos Yair writes about his paternal grandmother that she explained so concisely that all who heard her understood she was correct. Her speech was clear and polished and her writing was extraordinary. She was unique in her generation in Torah, a pious woman and a crown of glory.
Sadly the commentaries she wrote on the Midrash and Targum are no longer extant.
We do however, get a glimpse of her erudition in a note that the Chavos Yair cites regarding a Sukkos Piyut that his grandmother corrected.
My late father , the writer, Rabbi Tovia Preschel Z”L pointed out that in the Sefer Mekor Chaim of the Chavos Yair published posthumously by Machon Yerushalayim, Rabbi Yair Chaim Bacharach notes that in Siman 662 of the Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim, his mother corrected a Sukkos Piyut which contained a redundant word in error.
(This error is still found in many Machzorim including the Machzor Mefurash, but has been corrected in the Artscroll Machzor as well as some other editions.)
The Sukkos Piyut , the Chavos Yair was referring to is called an Ofan because it precedes the recitation of “ VeHaofanim Vechayos HaKodesh.” It is incorporated after “Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh” in the Tefillas Yotzer Or in Shacharis, serving as a bridge to Kedushah and is attributed to Rabbi Elazar Hakalir.
The Ofan begins with the words “A’amir Oscha. “ Towards the middle of the Ofan it reads:
“Korim U’mishtachavim Umodim Ba’ahavim”
(They kneel, bow down and give thanks with love)
“Havi’em LeSha’ar Bas Rabbim
Bring them to the gate (Bas Rabbim) of Yerushalayim
Rebbetzin Chava Bachrach claimed the word “Havi’em” was inserted in error and should have been deleted. She stressed that since the piyut is arranged according to the Aleph Beis, and the preceding line begins with “ Kaf” (Korim) then the following line must begin with a “Lamed” (LeSha’ar). The poem should actually read “They kneel, bow down and give thanks with love towards the gate of Yerushalayim.”
According to David Kaufmann who wrote a biography of Rabbi Yair Chaim Bacharach , R. Jair Chajim Bacharach und Seine Ahnem (Treves, 1894) the Chavos Yair had copied the explanatory notes his grandfather and grandmother had written on the margins of the Machzor.
Pogrom in Worms
In 1613, Inspired by the rabid anti-Semite of Frankfurt, Vincent Fettmilch, the Guilds and shopkeepers of Worms demanded the banishment of the Jews from that city. Fortunately , the city council claimed that the Jews’ Constitution and the Imperial privileges tied their hands and the Jews were permitted to remain and compete with the non-Jews in many fields of business previously closed to them. In a rage, the Guild members joined a pogrom and broke into the ghetto, beating up and robbing the residents. By the beginning of 1614, the Jews were forced to move to the other side of the Rhine, but with the intervention of the Archbishop of Mainz, were allowed to return. In 1615, Dr. Chemnitz and other members of the magistracy of Worms, advocated the expulsion of the Jews from that city, whereupon the Prince Elector, Frederick the Fifth took the congregation under his protection; this infuriated the Guilds, who expressed their hatred of the Jews by smashing the gravestones in the Jewish cemetery, destroying the shul and beating up and killing Jews and stealing their belongings. This took place on the seventh day of Pesach (Monday, April 20) in 1615.
Rabbi Avraham ben Shmuel Yitzhak Bachrach, and his only son Moshe Shimon miraculously escaped being murdered. They were able to flee with the rest of the family to Gernsheim. It is not clear why Rabbi Avraham Auerbach died several weeks later, whether it was from the physical wounds he was inflicted with or from the anguish he suffered from the pogroms. He was only 40 when he died and he is buried in Alsbach an der Bergstrasse.
An imperial decreed promulgated several months later, in January of 1616 ordered the Bishop of Speyer to readmit the Jews and the City of Worms to compensate them for their losses. The Masters of the Guilds were all banished from the city. Despite, the fact that the situation in Worms had improved, Rebbetzin Chava Bacharach, who had become a very young widow, decided to return to Prague to her father’s home so that he could help mechanech her only son and her five daughters. Her brothers learned with her son as well.
Attempt to Journey to Eretz Yisroel
Only five years later she was sought in marriage by another outstanding Talmid Chochom, Rav Yishayahu Horowitz, known as the Shelah for his “Shnei Luchos HaBris.” He had served as the Av Beis Din of Frankfurt on Main until the Jews were expelled in 1614. He then moved to Prague where he became Rav. In 1621, after his wife passed away, he decided to move to Eretz Yisroel.
According to the Chavos Yair, his father Rabbi Moshe Shimon Bachrach told him, that his grandmother Rebbetzin Chava Bacharach had refused the Shlah’s hand in marriage claiming she did not believe she was worthy of him.
Having married off all her children, Rebbetzin Chavah Bachrach moved to Worms, in 1650 when her son, noted Harav Moshe Shimon,was called to serve as Rav there. It was during that year that she was able to celebrate with the family the Bar Mitvah of her grandson, the Chavos Yair.
A year later, she decided to travel to Eretz Yisrael to live out her days. Wherever she went on her journey she was greeted very warmly by many Jews who bestowed upon her great honor because of her wisdom, her distinguished Yichus and her family of Talmidei Chachamim. Sadly, she never reached Eretz Yisrael. She passed away in Sofia, Bulgaria. She was buried there with great honor.
Yehi Zichrah Baruch
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