Yoffey
YOFFEY
YOFFEY , family of rabbis and scholars in Russia, England, and Israel. joseph ben moses yoffey (Joffe, or Jaffe; 1845–1897), born in Ukmerge (Vilkomir), Lithuania, was rabbi of Pokroy (1874), Salant (1883), and Gorzhd (1886). An ardent supporter of Ḥibbat Zion, he opposed the use on Sukkot of citrons grown outside Ereẓ Israel. In 1881 Yoffey published Yosef Be'ur, a commentary on Song of Songs, and in 1890 he wrote Ahavat Ẓiyyon vi-Yrushalayim, a three-part work opposing Orthodox anti-Zionism (abridged edition, 1891; full version, 1946). He immigrated to England in 1893 and was appointed rabbi of the Central Synagogue in Manchester. He published Alim li-Terufah, a versified ethical work (1895); many responsa (e.g., Divrei Yosef) and sermons remain in manuscript form. His son-in-law, israel jacob ben abraham ha-kohen yoffey (1874–1934), also born in Ukmerge, succeeded him as rabbi of the Central Synagogue at the age of 23. He founded the Manchester yeshivah and revitalized the talmud torah. Together with Rabbi H. Hurwitz of Leeds he organized in 1911 the first conference in England of Eastern European rabbis, with the aim of uniting them. He also convened the first conference of religious Zionists in England (1918), becoming one of the leaders of the Mizrachi movement. He died in Alexandria, Egypt, on the way to Ereẓ Israel. His works are mainly in the field of homiletics, with some halakhah. They are Keneset Yisrael (1910), Teḥiyyat Yisrael (1927), and Shofar Yisrael (1931).
His son, joseph mendel yoffey (1902–1994), born in Manchester, achieved distinction in medicine, and was active in Jewish communal life. Three-times Hunterian professor in the Royal College of Surgeons (London), he was professor of anatomy at Bristol University (1942–67) and dean of the medical faculty. His publications include Quantitative Cellular Haematology (1960), Bone Marrow Reactions (1966), Lymphatics, Lymph, and the Lymphomyeloid (1970; in collaboration). Yoffey settled in Israel in 1967 and became visiting professor of anatomy at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.
bibliography:
Ha-Tor, 14 no. 20 (1934), 4; jc (May 11 and 18, 1934); The Times (May 9, 1934); Yerushalmi (Katzburg), in: Ha-Miẓpeh (1953), 491–6.