The Sma — Rabbi Yehoshua Falk הסמ"ע — רבי יהושע פאלק
Meirat Einayim — the book by which the Jewish court decides property cases
Rabbi Yehoshua Falk was born in Lublin about 1555 and died in Lwów in 1614. He studied under the Rema and Maharshal. He refused a rabbinic post on principle, keeping instead a yeshiva in Lwów supported by his father-in-law.
He has two books, and they are constantly confused. Derishah u-Perishah is on the Tur: the Perishah expounds the plain sense, the Derishah searches out the source. Sefer Meirat Einayim, the Sma, is on Choshen Mishpat of the Shulchan Aruch, the division of property and judicial law; it is printed beside the text of the code, and monetary cases in rabbinic courts are still conducted by it.
He gave the reason himself: scholars rely too much on the Shulchan Aruch without consulting its foundations, and so rule wrongly. The irony is that the opposite followed: by working through Karo and the Rema and constantly mediating between them, he **raised** the code's standing — a book against dependence on the Shulchan Aruch became one of the instruments of its canonisation.
In the Council of Four Lands he took an active part: he signed the ordinance of 1587 against the purchase of rabbinic office and presided over the session of 1607 that legislated on interest and commercial transactions — that is, on the foundation of all Polish Jewish credit.
He should not be confused with Jacob Joshua Falk, author of the Pnei Yehoshua, who lived a century later.
On the timeline
Sources
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- Sefer Meirat Einayim — on Choshen Mishpat: property and judicial law
- Derishah u-Perishah — on the Tur: the plain sense and the search for the source — a different book
Documents of the period
- Council ordinances of 1587 and 1607 — his signature and presidency: against purchased office, on interest
Basis: documents and evidence.