Background
Sirkis was born in Lublin in 1561.
Sirkis was born in Lublin in 1561.
After remaining there some time he went to Brest-Litovsk, where he attended the yeshiva of Rabbi Phoebus.
He lived in central Europe and held rabbinical positions in Belz, Brest-Litovsk and KrakóWest He lived from 1561 to 1640. At age fourteen he went to the yeshiva of R. Naftali Zvi Hirsch Schor, a leading student of R. Moses Isserles.
While still a youth he was invited to the rabbinate of Pruzhany, near Slonim.
Later he occupied the rabbinates of Lubkow, Lublin, Medzyboz, Belz, Szydlowka, and finally Brest-Litovsk and Krakow, succeeding in each of the two last-mentioned places his teacher R. Phoebus. He was also critical of those who relied solely on the Shulchan Aruch for halachic decisions, rather than on the Talmud and the Geonim.
He was the father-in-law of Rabbi David HaLevi Segal, who frequently refers to him in Turei Zahav, his commentary on the Shulchan Aruch. Rabbi Sirkis died in Krakow in 1640.