Rav Mordechai Yaffe, author of Levush Mordechai, and known as the Baal HaLevushim (1530-1612). Born to the Rav of Prague, he was sent to Poland to study under the Maharshal and Rama in his youth. Married in 1553, he founded a yeshiva in Prague. However, in 1559, King Ferdinand decreed that the Jews of Prague be evicted. Despite the successful efforts of Pope Pius IV on behalf of the Jews (which resulted in a 2-year delay), the Jews of Prague left the city in 1561. Rav Mordechai settled in Venice, where he learned with Rav Avraham Abuhav and Rav Mittsyahu Delcorte. He became Rav of Horodna (Grodno) in 1572, then Lublin in 1588. In 1598, when the Maharal left Posen for Prague, Rav Mordechai became rabbi of Posen until his death.
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