Chiddushei Pnei Yehoshua al HaShas by the gaon Rabbi Ya'akov Yehoshua Falk, rabbi of Lvov, Berlin and Frankfurt ...

Chiddushei Pnei Yehoshua al HaShas by the gaon Rabbi Ya'akov Yehoshua Falk, rabbi of Lvov, Berlin and Frankfurt, known by the name of this book, as the "author of Pnei Yehoshua." Part of first edition

Pnei Yehoshua, part four. Furth 1780. Novella on various tractates of the Talmud as well as on Choshen Mishpat authored by the renowned R. Yaakov Yehoshua Falk. The novella of the Pnei Yehoshua are classics of Talmudic discourse and are among the most frequently studied later commentators. Part IV: Tractates Chulin, Makkot, Shevuot, and part of Choshen Mishpat. Furth, 1780. First edition. [2], 81 leaves, 32.5 cm.

Part Three on tractates Baba Kama, Baba Metzia. Furth, 1779. [2], 153 pages

R. Jacob Joshua b. Zevi Hirsch Falk (1680–1756), was born in Cracow and was a descendant of R. Joshua Heschel b. Joseph of Cracow, the author of Meginnei Shelomo. He studied in Polish yeshivot and took up residence in Lemberg after his marriage to the daughter of R. Solomon Segal Landau, an important member of that community. There he was appointed inspector of the talmud torah. He became wealthy and was a leader of the community. In 1702 his wife, daughter, mother-in-law, and her father were killed by the explosion of a gunpowder storehouse, and he himself was miraculously saved. As a result he vowed "to apply himself diligently to the study of the Talmud and the Codes" (Introduction to the Penei Yehoshu'a). He left Lemberg and served as rabbi in the communities of Tarlow, Kurow, and Lesko (Lisko) successively. In 1717 he was invited to become rabbi of Lemberg, succeeding R. Zevi Hirsch Ashkenazi (the Hakham Zevi). His yeshivah became the central yeshivah of Poland. Falk was one of the most extreme opponents of the Shabbatean movement, then gaining ground in Poland, and he excommunicated the Shabbateans in 1722. In consequence of the opposition he had aroused, he was compelled to leave Lemberg in 1724 and went to Buczacz where he lived for some years. Between 1730 and 1734 he served as rabbi of Berlin. He then accepted an invitation to succeed R. Jacob Reischer as rabbi of Metz and remained there until 1741.