JACOB JOSEPH HAKOHEN OF POLONNOYE. Tzaphnath Pane’ach [commentary to Exodus]

Work by the outstanding disciple of the Baal Shem Tov and Chassidic thinker, Jacob Joseph Hakohen of Polonnoye (d. circa 1782). Before becoming preacher of Polonnoye, Jacob Joseph served as Rabbi of the community of Shargorod, the second largest community of Podolia. The works of the "Toldoth," as R. Jacob Joseph is known, are full of sayings of the Ba'al Shem Tov. The usual form of attribution is "shama'ti…" (I heard…) Because of the Toldoth's criticism of the Torah scholars of his time, some of whom he charged with studying Torah for impure motives of self-aggrandizement, the book was reputedly burnt in the streets of Prague by order of Chief Rabbi Ezekiel Landau. A trenchant theme of Jacob Joseph's thought is the complementary roles played in society by the "anshei chomer" (men of matter) and "anshei tzurah" (men of form), which is to say, the simple folk and the intellectual class. This was one of the innovations of Chassidism: Not only are the amei ha-aretz in need of the talmidei chachamim, but the opposite is true as well - the Torah scholar has need of the simple Jew in order to achieve spiritual self-realization. Though in many ways Jacob Joseph was certainly worthy of succeeding the Ba'al Shem Tov as leader of the nascent Chassidic movement, this responsibility fell instead to a later disciple of the Ba'al Shem Tov, Dov Baer, Maggid of Mezritch. According to Chassidic lore, the reason Rabbi Jacob Joseph was passed over was on account of his sharp and caustic personality. Tzaphnath Pane'ach is the third work by Rabbi Jacob Joseph. It was preceded by Toldoth Ya'akov Yosef (Koretz, 1780) and Ben Porath Yosef (Koretz, 1781). See Aaron Zeitlin, “R. Ya'akov Yosef mi-Polnoeh, Siphro Ve-Chazono” in: Bein Emunah le-Omanut (Tel Aviv, 1980), pp. 121-128; Ch. Liberman, Ohel Rochel (1984), Vol. III, p. 42; Tauber, Kiryath Sepher, Vol. I, p. 305; S.H. Dresner, The Zaddik (1960); G. Negal, Manhig ve-Edah (1962); EJ, Vol. IX, cols. 1228-30