REISCHER, JACOB B. JOSEPH (called also Jacob Back):

(Redirected from BACKOFEN, JACOB.)

By: Isidore Singer, Jacob Zallel Lauterbach

Austrian rabbi; born at Prague; died at Metz Feb. 1733. He was the son of R. Joseph, author of "Gib'ot 'Olam," and a pupil of R. Simon Spira of Prague, who gave him in marriage the daughter of his son Benjamin Wolf. Reischer was dayyan at Prague, whence he was called to the rabbinate of Rzeszow in Galicia, deriving his name Reischer from that city, which is known as Reische among the Jews. He was subsequently called to the rabbinate of Anspach, and then occupied a similar position at Worms, from 1713 to 1719, when he went to Metz, officiating there until his death.

Reischer was the author of the following works: "Minḥat Ya'aḳob" (Prague, 1689 et seq.), commentary on the "Torat ha-Ḥaṭṭat" of Moses Isserles, with many refutations and amplifications; "Torat ha-Shelamim," commentary on the Yoreh De'ah, Hilkot "Niddah," and on the Ḳonṭres ha-Sefeḳot" of Shabbethai ha-Kohen, with an appendix containing eighteen responsa on various subjects (printed as the second part of the "Minḥat Ya'aḳob," ib. 1689 et seq.); "Ḥoḳ Ya'aḳob," commentary on Oraḥ Ḥayyim, Hilkot "Pesaḥ," first printed with the Shulḥan 'Aruk, Oraḥ Ḥayyim (Dessau, 1696); "Soletle-Minḥah," supplements to the "Minḥat Ya'aḳob" and the "Torat ha-Shelamim," first printed with the "Ḥoḳ Ya'aḳob" (ib. 1696); "'Iyyun Ya'aḳob" (Wilmersdorf, 1729), commentary on the "'En Ya'aḳob"; "Shebut Ya'aḳob," responsa and decisions in three parts: part i. (Halle, 1709), with the appendix "Pe'er Ya'aḳob," containing novellæ on the treatises Berakot, Baba Ḳamma, and Giṭṭin; part ii. (Offenbach, 1719), treatises on the rules "miggo" and "sefeḳ sefeḳa"; part iii. (Metz, 1789), containing also his "Lo Hibbiṭ Awen be-Ya'aḳob," a reply to the attacks of contemporary rabbis upon his "Minḥat Ya'aḳob" and "Torat ha-Shelamim."

S. J. Z. L.