Joseph ben Judah Engel

Rabbi Yosef Engel (7 December 1858 - 25 October 1919 ) was an author of Torah scholarship and an Av Beit Din (chief rabbinical judge) in Kraków, Poland. He was known for his unique combination of creative conceptual thinking and vast breadth of knowledge of Rabbinic literature. Although only a fraction of his many writings have survived, several of them have become staples of contemporary Yeshiva learning.

Biography Yosef Engel was born in the town of Tarnów, in modern-day southeastern Poland in 1858. His father was a merchant and a Talmid Chakham (Torah scholar), and his mother came from the Sanz Hasidic dynasty. As a child, she took him to visit Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Sanz, known as the Divrei Chaim. Already in childhood, he was known as the "Ilui (prodigy) of Tarnów."

Initially, he studied with a melamed (private teacher), but soon began studying on his own and achieved remarkable proficiency. In his youth, he studied in chavruta (paired study) with his relative Rabbi Shmuel Engel, head of the Rabbinical Court of Radomyśl Wielki, and also learned with his friend, Rabbi Meir Arik. His only daughter was married to Rabbi Yitzchak Menachem Morgenstern, who published some of Rabbi Engel's writings.

Method of Study Rabbi Engel’s style of learning, as reflected in his writings, is marked by two main features, also seen in the writings of his contemporary, the Rogatchover Gaon:

1. Analytical Synthesis

Rabbi Engel built his Torah insights by gathering numerous Talmudic sources and identifying a unifying conceptual core among them, even when they dealt with different legal topics. Unlike the Rogatchover, who wrote concisely and cryptically, Rabbi Engel expressed himself clearly and fluently, making his deep definitions accessible to scholars.

He began writing at a young age, often noting in his manuscripts: "While idle in my youth..." Throughout his life, he amassed a large corpus of writings. Dovid Morgenstern, the grandson of Rabbi Engel, attested that his grandfather wrote over 120 volumes in his lifetime, 103 of which were lost during the Holocaust. The only unpublished manuscript Morgenstern managed to take with him as he escaped from the Nazis was Rabbi Engel's insights on the Maharit and Avnei Miluim on the tractate of Kiddushin. He therefore aptly named it "She'erit Yosef", the remnant of Yosef. Lekach Tov – Talmudic dialectics. Otzrot Yosef – Novel interpretations on Yoreh De'ah, laws of Shemitah, Kabbalistic essays, and responsa. Gilyonei HaShas – Notes and insights on Bavli and Yerushalmi on Seder Zera’im, Moed, Nashim and Nezikin. Shev D’Nechamata – Aggadic work written in memory of his mother. Chosen Yosef (or She’erit Yosef) – Insights on Tractate Kiddushin and commentaries of the Maharit and Avnei Miluim. Tziyunim LaTorah – Concise Talmudic inquiries. Ben Porat – Responsa in two volumes. A Torah Institute (Ohavei Torah) was recently established to publish his works anew.