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1621 - 1663 (1 Adar I 5422) SHABBETAI BEN MEIR HACOHEN (Vilna, Lithuania)
One of the most well known and important commentators on the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De'ah) in which he explained and clarified rather than criticized Joseph Caro. His work is called Siftei Hacohen (Lips of the Priest) or the Shach for short. A lively competition developed between him and David ben Shmuel Halevy (1586), author of the commentary Turei Zahav (Taz). Each wrote replies and rebuttals to the other's works. Most of the Polish/Lithuanian rabbis ruled according to the Shach while those of Germany went according to David Halevy. He and Yom Tov Heller wrote litanies for those killed by Chmielniki (1648), which he described in his Megillat Eichah (1651). He fled Vilna in 1655 and became a rabbi in Moravia.
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