for making halachic decisions. The appearance of R' Yosef Caro's Shulchan Arukh, a digest of his Beit Yosef, led Rabbi Yoffe to consider whether he should continue writing his own work. On reflection, he concluded that there was room for it since it would contain "those laws observed by the Ashkenazi Jews of Bohemia." When R' Moshe Isserles' gloss to the Shulḥan Arukh (called Mappah) appeared in Cracow in 1578, Rabbi Yoffe felt that Rabbi Isserles had been too brief as had Rav Yosef Caro in the Shulḥan Arukh, and decided to resume his original work, "that will be midway between the two extremes: the lengthy Beit Yosef of Caro on the one hand, and on the other Rav Yosef Caro's Shulḥan Arukh together with the Mappah of Rabbi Isserles, which is too brief." In all, Rabbi Yoffe worked on this book almost 50 years. However, after completing his book he was confronted by another Rabbi who had also written a similar work, although not as extensive as Rabbi Yoffe's. They reached an agreement to publish Rabbi Yoffe's book and to present the other Rabbi's additional comments in glosses (hagahos) throughout the book. The work is organised as follows. The first five "attires" are devoted to the laws expounded in Rav Yosef Caro's Beit Yosef; the sixth, Ha-Orah is an elucidation of Rashi's biblical commentary; the seventh, Simḥah ve-Sason, contains sermons for holidays and weddings. Rabbi Yoffe collectively termed the last three, "rabbinic robes," considering that these should be learned by "every student in that order – philosophy, astronomy, and Kabbalah." These are: the eighth, Pinnat Yikrat, is a commentary on Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed; the ninth, Eder Yakar, is a commentary on the laws of the Jewish calendar according to Maimonides and an additional commentary on Abraham bar Hiyya's geographical-astronomical Tzurat ha-Aretz; the tenth, Even Yikrat, is on Menahem Recanati's commentary on the Torah. The Levush is an exception among the codifiers in treating ritual-legal matters from a kabbalistic standpoint; his approach, to a certain extent, "tended to draw together the Talmudists and kabbalists, otherwise in danger of an open breach". External links and references Mordecai Jaffe, jewishencyclopedia.com Rabbi Mordechai Yoffe (The Levush), chabad.org Yoffe, Mordecai Ben Abraham, jewishvirtuallibrary.org Jaffe, Mordecai Ben Abraham, The Levush in the Pedigree of Jaffe-Family 16th-century Bohemian rabbis 1530s births 1612 deaths Jewish Czech writers Rabbis from Prague 16th-century Polish rabbis 17th-century Polish