Jacob Joseph of Polonne

Jacob Joseph of Polonne, (1710–1784) (Hebrew: יעקב יוסף הכהן‎) or Yaakov Yosef of Pollonye, was a rabbi who was one of the first disciples of the founder of Hasidic Judaism, the Baal Shem Tov.

Biography

Yaakov Yosef had been an adherent of the school of Lurianic Kabbalah.^[1] Before becoming chassidic he was the rabbi of the city of Sharhorod for several years, where his pietistic asceticism and self-isolation alienated his community and led to his being fired from his position on a Friday afternoon (just before Shabbat) in 1748.^[2] Afterwards he joined the new hasidic movement and settled in Rașcov.

His book Toldos Yaacov Yosef, (published in 1780), was the first chassidic work ever published. He is a major source for the Baal Shem Tov's sayings, and quotes those he himself heard firsthand in a section called "Words I Heard from My Master."^[2]

Teachings

He says of the dual requirement in Judaism to both love and fear God that when one reaches a high level of inwardness of the soul, fear and love of God coalesce into one, becoming indistinguishable from one another, eliminating the need to give priority to one over the other.^[3]

Works

He wrote four books:^[4]

• Toledot Yaakov Yosef (1780). The first Chassidic work ever published, and the primary source for various sayings of the Ba‘al Shem Tov as well as members of his inner circle.^[2] It is "in the main a compilation of sermons, arranged according to the Torah portion of the week.... [and] contains the most basic paradigms of the Hasidic worldview."^[2]
• Ben Porat Yosef (1781). Sermons, mainly on Genesis; also, the first book to contain “Igeret ‘aliyat ha-neshamah” (The Epistle of the Ascendance of the Soul).
• Tzafnat Paneach (1782), on Exodus
• Ketonet Pasim (1866; published posthumously), on Leviticus and Numbers.

The titles of these four works are all biblical allusions to Jacob Joseph's own name, in particular the figure of Joseph.^[5]

References

1. Dresner, Samuel H. (Rabbi). The Zaddik - The Doctrine of the Zaddik according to the writings of Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoy, Shocken Books, 1974 (reissue of the Abelard-Schuman ed., London, 1960) ISBN 0-8052-0437-7; p. 50.
2. Haviva Pedaya (N.D.). Ya‘akov Yosef of Polnoye, yivoencyclopedia.org
3. Sherwin, Byron L. "Fear of God." 20th Century Jewish Religious Thought: Original Essays on Critical Concepts, Movements, and Beliefs. Arthur Allen Cohen, Paul Mendes-Flohr eds. Jewish Publication Society. 2009. Page 252.
4. Bloch, Joshua. "A Legendary Edition of the" Toledot Yaakob Yosef" by Jacob Joseph ha-Kohen of Polonnoye." The Jewish Quarterly Review 31, no. 3 (1941): 245-257.
5. Rosman, Moshe, and Murray Jay Rosman. Founder of Hasidism: A Quest for the Historical Ba'al Shem Tov. University of California Press. 1996. Page 138.