Father of the RaMA: An Excerpt about Rabbi Moses Isserles' Father from a PhD Dissertation

From Rabbi Asher Siev, "The Period, Life and Work or Rabbi Moses Isserles" (PhD diss., Yeshiva University, 1943), 8-10 (the endnotes from the original dissertation are at the bottom):

R. Israel, son of Joseph, the father of R. Moses Isserles was a descendent of a prosperous family in Kracow. His father, R. Joseph, was a leader and Parnas (פרנס) in the city. His mother, Gitel, was daughter of R. Moses Auerbach, a wealthy leader in the Kracow community.²³ Through marriage, R. Israel was tied to another wealthy family whose members were leaders in Israel. His father-in-law, R. Eliezer Shrentzil, married Drezil, daughter of R. Yechiel Luria, first Rabbi of Brisk. R. Luria, mentioned often by Mahari Bruna and Maharam Mintz, was a most famous Rabbi, claiming descent from Rashi.²⁴
R. Israel was a very wealthy Jew in his day. His business affairs were not confined to Cracow. They extended to Wilna and other cities. Reinstein (? - DK) claims that the document of 1551 in which the king of Poland permitted two Jews, R. Simon Doktorowitz and R. Israel b. Joseph of Kracow, to do business in Wilna referred to the father of "R. Isserles who was the only prominent Jew by the name of R. Israel, son of Joseph of Dracow (sic - DK)," at the time. The privileges thus extended to R. Israel enabled him to deal in Wilna, even through representatives, and to hire storage houses and stores without hindrance. R. Israel, as testified by his son R. Moses, traveled on boats, no doubt for business purposes. He came in contact with non-Jews who often addressed to him difficulties in the Bible. His son, R. Moses, speaks of him as a leader and Parnas in Kracow. His charitable deeds and sound leadership are praised highly in every document available, including his monument. His wife, Dina Malka, brought in additional wealth from her family. All this wealth both husband and wife used for the purposes and benefit of the community and its needs. Dina Malka was a business woman and, at the same time, most active in aiding every needy person in the community, while R. Israel devoted a great deal of his time and money to the multiplicity of duties vested in a leader and Parnas of the community.
In the year שי"ג, R. Israel built a synagogue in memory of his wife, who had died the year before. This synagogue was built with the money that Dina Malka left him. Subsequently, this house of worship became known as the Ramo Synagogue....²⁵ R. Azulai is in error again when he states that this synagogue was dedicated by R. Moses Isserles, as the inscription on its wall as in the synagogue book testify.
As a leader of the Jewish community, R. Israel was respected not purely for his wealth and good deeds. He was highly regarded for his scholarship was well. The titles גאון וחבר given him testify to the high esteem in which he was held as a learned man. For, in those days, titles were not conferred indiscriminately. R. Joseph b. Moses, pupil of R. Israel Isserlin and author of לקט יושר, writes in the preface that he reached the age of forty and, as yet, was not privileged to be known even as a חבר. In addition, many learned men are mentioned in the פנקס החברא קדישא without any titles whatsoever, as, for example, R. Simcha Bunem, son-in-law of R. Isserles, and R. Jekuthiel Zalman, son of R. Moses Landau. R. Moses, too, does not fail to indicate this of his father and always refers to him as "my father and teacher". In two places, he quotes his father in matters of law.²⁶
R. Israel had five children: 1. Rabbi Moses (named after his father's grandfather, R. Moses Auerbach), known as the Ramo (composed of the first letters of his Hebrew name, i.e. Rabbi Moses Isserles); 2. Isaac;²⁷ 3. Rabbi Eliezer,²⁸ (named after his father's father-in-law, R. Elizer Shrentzil), son-in-law of R. Solomon Luria; 4. Joseph²⁹ (named after his father's father); and 5. a daughter, Miriam³⁰ (probably named after the mother of R. Yechiel Luria, who was the grandfather of R. Israel's wife), wife of the well-known leader of the Kracow community and in the ועד ארבע ארצות, R. Pinchas Hurwitz....

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Endnotes:

The Shulhan Arukh on How Much Time to Wait to Eat Dairy After Consuming Meat

In honor of finishing my milk & meat test (בחינה של בשר בחלב), I decided to quote and translate section 89:1 of the Shulhan Arukh (Yoreh Deah), the mid-16th century Jewish law work, on how much time one is to wait between eating meat and milk. Up first is Rabbi Yosef Karo:

אכל בשר, אפילו של חיה ועוף, לא יאכל גבינה אחריו עד שישהה שש שעות. ואפילו אם שהה כשיעור, אם יש בשר בין השינים, צריך להסירו.
והלועס לתינוק, צריך להמתין.

If one ate meat - even a wild beast or poultry - one should not eat cheese after that until one waits six hours. And even if one waited that amount of time, if there is still flesh/meat in one's teeth, one needs to remove it.
And one who chews up [meat] for a child/toddler needs to wait [the prescribed amount of time].

However, Rabbi Moshe Isserles wrote

ואם מצא אחר כך בשר שבין השינים, ומסירו, צריך להדיח פיו קודם שיאכל גבינה (הר"ן פכ"ה). ויש אומרים דאין צריכין להמתין שש שעות, רק מיד אם סלק ובירך ברכת המזון, מותר על ידי קנוח והדחה (תוס' ומרדכי פכ"ה והגהות אשיר"י והג"ה מיימוני פ"ט דמ"א וראבי"ה).
והמנהג הפשוט במדינות אלו, להמתין אחר אכילת הבשר שעה אחת, ואוכלין אחר כך גבינה. מיהו צריכים לברך גם כן ברכת המזון אחר הבשר (ע"פ הארוך והגהות ש"ד), דאז הוי כסעודה אחרת, דמותר לאכול לדברי המקילין. אבל בלא ברכת המזון, לא מהני המתנת שעה. ואין חילוק אם המתין השעה קודם ברכת המזון, או אחר כך (ד"ע ממהרא"י ולאפוקי או"ה). ואם מצא בשר בין שיניו, אחר השעה, צריך לנקרו ולהסירו (ד"ע ממשמעות הר"ן הנ"ל).
ויש אומרים דאין לברך ברכת המזון על מנת לאכול גבינה (ארוך בשם מהר"ח), אבל אין נזהרין בזה.
ויש מדקדקים להמתין שש שעות אחר אכילת בשר לגבינה, וכן נכון לעשות

If one found meat between ones teeth afterwards and removes it, one needs to wash out one's mouth prior to eating cheese.
There are those who say that one does not need to wait six hours, but, rather just to remove their plate and to bless the Grace After Meals and it is permitted through wiping and rinsing.
The simple custom in these lands is to wait one hour after eating meat, and then [to be able] to eat cheese. However, one still needs to bless the Grace After Meals after the meat, because it would be like another meal, for which it would be permissible to eat, according to those who are lenient. But without the Grace After Meals, waiting an hour does not help. And there is no difference if one waits an hour before the Grace After Meals or afterwards. If one found meat between one’s teeth after that hour, one needs to remove it.
Some say one should not say the Grace After Meals just to eat cheese, but we are not concerned about this.
There are some who are meticulous to wait six hours after eating meat before [eating] cheese. And such is proper to do.

For Rabbi Isserles' use of the term "these lands", I will refer to Joseph Davis' excellent article:

"These lands" is a phrase that Isserles was fond of, and he used it several times in his Responsa. In one place, he contrasted "these lands" to Italy.... In another place, he contrasted "these lands" to Moravia.... In a third responsum..., Isserles contrasted "these lands" to Germany....
Isserles used "these lands" to mean the lands of Poland. The "customs of these lands" that Isserles codified in his notes to the Shulhan Arukh were the customs of the Polish Jews.

-Joseph Davis, "The Reception of the Shulhan Arukh and the Formation of Ashkenazic Jewish Identity," AJS Review 26, no. 2 (2002), 265.
For more on this topic, my havrusa wrote a little piece on this same topic (you have to scroll down a little).