New Book sale 2018 : Part One,The First Artichoke Controversy of 2012,Approbations and Restrictions: Printing the Talmud in Eighteenth Century Amster

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1 New Book sale 2018 : Part One New Book sale 2018 : Part One By Eliezer Brodt This list consists of a few parts. Many of these titles are very hard to find. Some of the prices are better than others, but all in all I think they are fair. Almost all the books are either brand new or in good shape. your order to eliezerbrodt@gmail.com. I will than send you a bill based on what is available. Payment is with Pay Pal, but other arrangements can be made. Shipping is not included in the price; that depends on the order and size of the book. All books will be air mailed out after I receive payment. There are other shipping possibilities available depending on quantity of books. Some of the titles are only available at these prices for the next few days. For every 5 titles purchased there is a 10 percent discount [not including the shipping] [a set counts as one title]. Feel free to ask for details about any specific book on the list. All questions should be sent to me at eliezerbrodt@gmail.com

2 thank you and enjoy. Part of the proceeds of this sale will be going to help support the efforts of the Seforim Blog. מבחר כתבים, 1. ר מתתיהו שטראשון $25 עלי תמר, 2. מועד, ג חלקים 45$ משניות 3. ספראי, כל חלק $25 מאיר בר 4. אילן, סתרי תפילה והיכלות, 30$ אהרן מירסקי, 5. הפיוט, 731 עמודים, 36$ רבנו חננאל, 6. מבוא, שרגא ארמסון, $21 מבחר 7. כתבים לר משה ריינס,

3 $20 עולמות 8. נפגשים, המדעים בעולמה של היהדות בעריכת אברהם גוטליב, ] $18 ניתן לקבל תוכן[, $18 מרדכי סבתו, 9. תלמוד בבלי, מסכת סנהדרין, פרק שלישי, ב חלקים, $ ג שלום, תולדות התנועה שבתאית, $25 רש י, 11. עיונים ביצירתו, בעריכת צבי שטיינפלד, בר אילן, 34$ 12. זרחיה רבי הלוי בעל המאור ובני חוגו ישראל מ תא - שמע $ ר משה

4 ליב שחור, אבני שהם על התורה ועוד ]ב חלקים[ ]מצוין[, 32$ שו ת 14. תירוש ויצהר $21 מלמד 15. התלמידים $ ר שמואל אריאל, נטע בתוכנו, פרקים ביסידות תורה שבעל פה, ב חלקים, ] $36 ניתן לקבל תוכן[ אלפא ביתא 17. קדמיתא דשמואל זעירא ר שמואל אשכנזי חלק א 852 עמודים 52$ אלפא 18. ביתא תניתא דשמואל זעירא ר שמואל אשכנזי שני חלקים 45$ אסופה, 19. ארבעה מאמרים מאוצרות ר שמואל אשכנזי, 13$

5 20. ר יחיאל גולדהבר, קונדיטון ]לשאלת החרם על ספרד, אסון הטיטאניק מנקודת מבטו של העולם היהודי[ 15$ 21. ר בן ציון אייכארן, זמירת ציון, בעניני זמירת שבת, תולדותיה ומנהגיה ובמיוחד הפיוט כל מקדש שביעי, ונספח בסופו ספר תפלה ורנה מכ י על זמירת שבת מאת החכם ר יעקב רייפמן, 15$ 22. גפני, חנן פשוטה של משנה, עיונים בחקר ספרות חז ל בעת החדשה ]מצוין[, $20 יוסף תבורי, 23. פסח דורות, $20 ליקוטי 24. אליעזר,

6 אליעזר בראדט, 9$ 25. כסה בין לעשור, אליעזר בראדט, 14$ שמואל 26. קרויס, פרס ורומי בתלמוד ובמדרשים, $15 נטועים כ 27. ]חומר חשוב[, 283 עמודים $ רא ם, אהל רשימת כתבי היד באוצר הספרים של רבי אברהם מרדכי אלתר האדמו ר מגור, $46 מנהגי 29. הקהילות, ב חלקים, ר יחיאל גולדהבר, ] 26$ מצוין[ חנוך אלבק, 30. מבוא לתלמודים $ יסיף, עלי סיפורי

7 בן סירא בימי הביניים, $ הפרדס, ספר תלמיד הרשב א $ דוד משה קאסוטו, בעריכת ראובן בונפיל, $14 גנוזות חלק 34. א $11 גנוזות חלק 35. ב $11 תורת הלשון 36. של מנחם בן סרוק $23 אמנון בזק, 37. עד היום הזה ]שאלות יסוד בלימוד תנ ך[ חומר חשוב 24$ מגילת תענית 38. ]יצחק בן צבי[ 22$ חרבא דמשה, 39. מהדיר יובל הררי, 23$ 40. יוספוס בין לחז ל, ב חלקים, בעריכת ורד נעם ועוד,

8 $50 הגות והשלמות 41. מכת י מסכת נדרים, מכון תלמוד הישראלי ]כולל הגהות של רבי בצלאל אשכנזי ועוד[, 18$ יעקב שמואל 42. שפיגל, עמודים בתולדות ספר העברי, הגהות ומגיהים $50 יעקב שמואל 43. שפיגל, עמודים בתולדות ספר העברי, בשערי הדפוס $20 יעקב שמואל 44. שפיגל, עמודים בתולדות ספר העברי, הדר המחבר, $20 יעקב שמואל 45. שפיגל )מהדיר(, וישמע קולי, $20 פירוש רש י 46. למסכת ראש השנה ]על פי כ י[, מהדיר אהרן ארנד,

9 $ הההשגה; ספר הוא כתאב אלמסתלחק לר יונה אבן - ג נאח, מהדורת ד טנא וא ממן, 26$ כתבי ר 48. משה אבן תבון בעריכת : חיים קרייסל, קולט סיראט, אברהם ישראל 24$ דרשות ר 49. זרחיה הלוי סלדין ]תלמיד של ר קרשקש[, מהדיר : ארי אקרמן $21 לוית חן 50. לר לוי בן אברהם, סתרי האמונה, שער ההגדה ]מהדיר : חיים

10 קרייסל[, ]כרך ד[ 28$ חמשה קדמוני 51. מפרשי ר אברהם אבן עזרא, $ פתרון ספר תורה, מהדיר : אפרים אלימלך אורבך, $ ר שמואל ואלדבערג, דרכי השינויים, מחקר על דרכי מדרש הכתובים בספר חז ל, ]דפוס מקור[ 28$ 54. אברהם הרב יצחק הכהן קוק, לנבוכי הדור, ]חדש[ 22$ שו ת 55. הרמ א מהד אשר זיו, $ המצרף, ספר

11 ביאורים והגהות לאגדות חז ל, אברהם דובזויץ, )דפוס צילום, אודעסא תרל ו( 9$ אהרן אשכולי, 57. החסידות בפולין, $18 אמנון 58. רז - קרקוצקין, הצנזור הערוך והטקסט, הצנזורה הקתולית והדפוס העברי במאה השש עשרה, $15 שמחה עמנואל, 59. שברי לוחות, ספרים אבודים של בעלי התוספות $25, אוצר 60. ראשונים, מועד קטן, ]שיטה לתלמידו של רבינו יחיאל מפאריש, תוס רא ש[ $21 מסלות לתורת 61. התנאים,

12 ]שלשה מאמרים, ר דוד צבי הופמן, ר חיים האראוויט, ר ישראל לוי[ $20 הרמ א, 62. אשר זיו $ אשתורי רבי הפרחי, חלוץ חוקרי ארץ ישראל, )קובץ מחקרים(, $25 שו ת 64. שארית יוסף $30 מחזור 65. גולדשמידט, סוכות $25 אוסף הגדות 66. ]שבע : מלבי ם, זכר יהוסף, אמרי שפר, מעשה נסים,

13 מעשה בר אלעזר, מגדל עדר, צורף אמרים[, $ וסייף ספר כרמולי $28 מחזור 68. גולדשמידט, ראש השנה - יום כיפור $ אברהם, דבר חלק דרוש $24 שרשי מנהג 70. אשכנז, כרך א $24, תפארת צבי 71. חלק ה $25 תפארת צבי 72. חלק ג $25 הלכות הנגיד 73. $23 סידור כוונת 74. האריזל שנת תקמ א $ ישראל נצח $ חלדי עלי $24 שמואל פין, 77.

14 קריה נאמנה $36 ספרי זוטא, 78. ליברמן $22 חכמת לב, 79. עולמם של חז ל, ספר זיכרון ליפה הקר, $17 מקראות 80. יתרו $25 מקראות 81. משפטים $25 אמרות 82. טהורות, ]מהדיר ר יעקב סטל[ $22 סודי חומש 83. ושאר, ]מהדיר ר יעקב סטל[ $14 דרשות לימי 84. התשובה, ]מהדיר ר יעקב סטל[ $10 תשובות 85. ה רוקח, ]מהדיר ר יעקב

15 סטל[ $ ר יעקב ישראל סטל, סגולה $18 מחזור 87. גולדשמידט, פסח $24 מחזור 88. גולדשמידט, שבועות $ ישראל ארץ בהגות היהודית בעת החדשה, בעריכת אביעזר רביצקי, $22 שלמה שרגאי, 90. בהיכל איזביצא - לובלין $16 מחזות של 91. הרמח ל ג חלקים : מעשה שמשון לישרים תהילה מגדל עוז $ ר בצלאל לנדוי,

16 מסע מירון, ] $16 מהדורה חדשה[ יצחק גייגר, 93. היציאה מהשטעטל, רבני הציונות הדתית אל מול אתגר הריבונות היהודית $ פרידמן, שמא לתורתם של תנאים, $21 אופיר מינץ 95. מנור, הפיוט הקדום אוניברסיטת תל אביב, $18 גרשום שלום, 96. זרמים ראשיים במיסטיקה היהודית $ אלטשולר, מור חיי מרן יוסף קארו, $ טוהר, ורד חיבור המעשיות והמדרשות וההגדות )פירארה שי ד( $21 רוני 99. ויינשטיין שברו את הכלים, הקבלה והמודרניות היהודית, $ אקשטיין צבי

17 ומריסטלה בוטיצ יני, המיעוט הנבחר, כיצד עיצב הלימוד את ההיסטוריה הכלכלית של היהודים, $ ליהודה, מנחה יהודה תיאודור ועריכתם של מדרשי האגדה הארץ ישראליים, תמר קדרי $ ר משה אהרוני, פיוטי הלכה ומנהג לחג הפסח $16 יהושע פישל 103. שניאורסון, הרופא והפילוסוף, $ ליבוביץ נחמה ומשה ארנד, פירוש רש י לתורה עיונים בשיטתו ב כרכים $25 מסורת 105. התנ ך, ר חיים הלר, תורה $20

18 שולמית 106. אליצור, פיוטי רבי פינחס הכהן, $25 שולמית 107. אליצור, מחזורי שבעתות לסדרים ולפרשיות, $22 שולמית 108. אליצור, למה צמנו, $ חן, לוית מעשה מרכבה, +$ חן, לוית מעשה בראשית, $ יפה, שרה רשב ם על שיר השירים, $ אהבה בתענוגים, לר משה בן יהודה $23, אברהם שמואל 113. הירשברג, משפט הישוב החדש בארץ ישראל $ ברנאי, יעקב

19 יהודי ארץ ישראל במאה הי ח בחסות פקידי קושטא $ ר מנשה בן ישראל, מקוה ישראל, תשועת ישראל ]בעריכת מנחם דורמן(, $ רובין, ריכב צורת הארץ, ארץ ישראל במפה העברית מרש י ועד ראשית המאה העשרים, $ בנמלך, מוטי שלמה מולכו, חייו ומותו של משיח בן יוסף, $ נעמה וילוז ני, שערות לילות וקרני אשמדאי, דמות וצורה במאגיה ובאמנות העממית בין בבל לארץ ישראל בשלהי העת העתיקה, $23 קיימי קפלן, 119. עמרם בלוי עולמו

20 של מנהיג נטורי קרתא, $ ספר הכוזרי, תרגום מיכאל שורץ, $21 אברהם 121. גרוסמן, תמורות בחברה היהודית בימי הביניים, $ צור, ירון גבירים ויהודים אחרים במזרח התיכון העות מאני, $21 התפילה 123. בישראל : היבטים חדשים, בעריכת אורי ארליך, $21 מדרשי 124. גאולה, בעריכת יהודה אבן שמואל, עם מבוא מאת עודד עיר שי, $ גריס, זאב הספר העברי פרקים לתולדותיו, $ ידידיה, אסף לגדל

21 תרבות עבריה, חייו ומשנתו של זאב יעבץ, $ הזוהר, משנת כרך המפתחות, $ ידידיה, אסף ביקורת מבוקרת $ וסרמן, נאוה מימי לא קראתי לאשתי, זוגיות בחסידות גור, $20 יחוסי תנאים 130. ואמוראים, מוסד רב קוק $60 יהודה 131. פליקס, שיר השירים, טבע עלילה ואליגוריה, )תשל ד(, 32$ מעיין 132. החיים, דברי חיים והחת ס, מהדורה שניה $ עמר, זהר בעקבות

22 תולעת השני הארץ ישראלית, 14$ 134. ואמהות ערים בישראל, חלק ז, פרשבורג $15 Hakirah volume $6 Y. BarZilay, Manasseh of 136. Ilya $ בער, יצחק ישראל בעמים, עיונים בתולדות ימי הבית השני, ותקופת המשנה וביסודות ההלכה והאמונה, 10$ 138. זמנים סדר לר יצחק אייזיק חבר $13 ספונות 139. סדרה חדשה, כרך יז 15$ 140. ר בנימין פרידמן, מקור התפלות, על סדר התפילה $ צבי מאיר בניה, משה

23 אלמושנינו איש שלוניקי פועלו ויצירתו, $19 רפל, 142. דב הרמב ם כמחנך $19 רפל, 143. דב פתחי שערים, עיונים ומחקרים על נושא התפילה $ י בן ששון, משנתו העיונית של בעל המשך חכמה $19 זבולון 145. בוארון, גירושי סו ף )ספרד ופורטוגל( השתקפותם בביאורי של ר אברהם סבע $ אליקים, נסים שיטתו הפרשנית של רש י על פי פירושו לתורה $ אליקים, נסים לב מידות בפירוש רש י לתורה והמילה המנחה $ יוסף היינימן, התפילה בתקופת התנאים והאמוראים ]כריכה

24 קשה[ $ שלמה שלחן פסקי תשובה א - ג $10 פירוש רש י 150. למסכת מועד קטן ]מהד קופפר[, $7 מעלות 151. היוחסין מאת ר אפרים זלמן מרגליות עם הערות 10$ 152. הלברטל, משה על דרך האמת, הרמב ן ויצירתה של מסורת $ על יד קובץ כרך ד )תשו( סדרה חדשה $30 בתורתו של 154. ר גדליה $ ה אור )מהדורות הרב פישר( $ שו ת שבעה עינים, ]פולמסים בין ר שלמה קלוגר ור

25 אלעזר לנדא[ $23 התקוה על 157. הגבול, זיכרונות ר מרדכי בורר $15 פסיקתא 158. רבתי, מהדורת איש שלום $13 נפתלי בן 159. מנחם, בשערי ספר $ א א אורבך, בעלי התוספות )ב חלקים(, $26 וילנסקי, 161. חסידים ומתנגדים, $ ר דוד פארדו, למנצח לדוד $ ארץ משנת ישראל, ספראי, כתובות, ב

26 חלקים $40, יפת 164. שרה בשוב ה את, שיבת ציון היינו כחולמים ב, חלקים $32 The First Artichoke Controversy of 2012 The First Artichoke Controversy of 2012 By Leor Jacobi Recently a kashrut controversy surrounding traditional Italian fried artichokes has received major media coverage in the New York Times and the Seforim Blog (twice, in chronological order, not order of importance). In order to prove the antiquity of Jewish artichoke consumption, depictions of artichokes in medieval illuminated haggadot have been adduced. These were the topic of a lesser-known artichoke controversy in 2012 here in the comments section of the Seforim Blog, which can be as nasty and difficult to find as artichoke bugs. The Controversy: Do Catalonian medieval Haggadot portray maror as an artichoke? Were artichokes actually consumed in fulfillment of the rabbinic requirement to consume bitter herbs found in the Mishnah and Tosefta?

27 Brother Haggadah, BL Oriental 1404, f. 18 Here s the story behind the scenes as it occurred in real time, during the Pessah season of I was scheduled to deliver a talk on chrayn at a rabbinic conference on the Hebrew language organized by Yitzhak Frank on April 10, Chol ha-moed Pessah. In the course of some late preparatory research (= Googling) on April 5 (13 Nissan, the day of bedikat chametz) I came across a fascinating responsum on maror by David Golinkin that had just been published on April 2, Struck by the reliance on visual evidence from illustrated manuscripts in establishing a medieval custom to consume artichokes as maror, I sent the post to Marc Michael Epstein of Vassar College for comment. Within an hour he replied: I don t believe the Sephardic mss show an artichoke, rather

28 they depict an entire head of romaine lettuce. The way to prove or disprove this would be to compare contemporary or roughly contemporary botanical mss. I immediately began intensive research (= more Googling) and discovered that the artichoke question was (probably first) posed by Yoel Finkelman and his parents in Significantly, they already collected the three examples cited by Golinkin: the Rylands, Brother, and Sarajevo Haggadot. Finkelman states that his father circulated the query widely. Rylands Haggadah, 1988 facsimile edition, f. 31v The next day, April 6, Erev Pessah, I ed Golinkin directly, requesting sources for his identifications. He replied on the same day that artichokes are definitely depicted in the three illuminated haggadot and that artichokes were probably identified as one of the five plant species

29 mentioned in the Mishnah (Pesahim 2:6). Indeed, in Golinkin s own post of April 2: Rabbi Natan ben Yehiel of Rome (1035-ca. 1110) says in his Talmudic dictionary (ed. Kohut, Vol. 8, p. 245) that tamkha is cardo, which is cardoon. Prof. Feliks says that this is carduus argentatus or silver thistle, while Dr. Schaffer says that it is cynara cardunculus or artichoke thistle. Cardoon Artichoke Thistle. a painting by Elizabeth H Tudor So, textual and visual evidence interlock to support the conclusion that artichokes were used as Maror. However, the textual evidence is weak. Sefer Ha arukh is a dictionary, not a responsum, a legal code or a gloss to one, like Hagahot Maimoniyot which identifies tamkha as horseradish chrayn, associated with an actual custom. The definition

30 of Ha arukh is not a singular, definitive identification (yesh omrim: marrobio, another species, also Rashi s identification), and according to Prof. Jehudah Feliks cardo does not describe artichokes at all. Opposite this scanty textual evidence stands a mountain of Rabbinic silence. As far as I am aware, nowhere in any codes, Haggadas, commentaries, or anywhere else do we find even a hint that artichokes were ever used as maror. There are limits to what can be learned ex silentio but we are discussing thousands of sources. If artichokes were used, we would expect a mention somewhere. As for the visual information, we have two witnesses and three witnesses : The Rylands and Brother Haggadahs should be considered one witness because one is copied from the other. Bezalel Narkiss designated the name The Brother Haggadah (along with a lot of other names of Haggadah, most of which have stuck, for better or worse) because it is the brother copied from the Rylands Haggadah. According to Katrin KogmanAppel, the Brother was more likely the original from which the Rylands was copied. For our purposes, the direction of the copying makes no difference. Just as the Rosh and Tur can t really be counted as two legal authorities, these two sources are reflections of one another. What about the other witness, the Sarajevo Haggadah? I do not think that there is even a remote possibility that the Sarajevo Haggadah depicts an artichoke:

31 The leaves are ridged but all species of artichoke leaves are smooth save for the thorn in the middle. An artist whose intention was to depict artichokes would not draw them in this manner. Moreover, Epstein, (in personal correspondence) adds that the artichoke leaves are veined like lettuce leaves, and bound together with a cord at the base.

32 Israeli Artichoke, Photo: Leor Jacobi, April 20, 2012 The same day, April 6, Erev Pessah, I communicated my skepticism back to Golinkin, especially regarding the depiction in the Sarajevo Haggadah. Golinkin s April 2 post had already inspired creative contemporary midrash by April 9 (the truth of which in revealing hidden aspects of the divine plan should be judged independently of the historical claims.) Clearly these progressive folk placed artichokes on their seder plate on seder night, April 6 or 7, 2012, and were already expounding homiletically on the custom they had only learned about on April 2 at the earliest. Epstein notes that this an excellent example in real time of a minhag in development thanks to what he calls the heter of the Internet. I gave the Chrayn talk on April 10 and the very next day,

33 April 11, a long and fascinating Seforim blog post by Dan Rabinowitz was published, wherein, inter alia, he stated: In the Brother to the Rylands Haggadah, marror is depicted as an artichoke, as is in the case with the Sarajevo Haggadah. Golinkin wasn t cited but it s doubtful that his April 2 post is the source perhaps serendipity. After some discussion in the comments, Marc Epstein wrote: Rabbosai (and Marasai): A manuscript is NOT a mirror. Jews depict themselves in their art (or commission art that depicts them) not as they were, but as they desired to be seen. Please please please do not engage in the typical Wissenschaft strategy of looking at illuminated manuscripts for clues to Jewish life in the Middle Ages or even to Jewish history. What we can learn from them is histoire des Mentalites, but even that takes a lot of work to get to. Re: the artichoke : I don t believe the Sephardic mss show an artichoke, rather they depict an entire head of romaine lettuce. The way to prove or disprove this would be to compare contemporary or roughly contemporary botanical mss. It may have been misunderstood by some illuminators as an artichoke, but not corrected by the recipients of the manuscript because if you are not looking for an artichoke it seems totally absurd that an artichoke would be used as maror, You don t SEE an artichoke, but a head of Romaine lettuce, no matter how artichoke-like it seems to us in Also, because a head of Romaine is SHOWN in the haggadah it doesn t mean that there a head of (possible unchecked-forbugs) Romaine on the table. Every image is not a snapshot, but a representation a combination of the real, the general, the ideal and the symbolic. Showing the head is a way of REPRESENTING Romaine it says, We use a type of lettuce that grows with leaves together in a head like this. It does NOT necessarily mean We use complete heads of Romaine at the Seder, like this. Do you see the difference? A representation must shorthand its descriptions for clarity: If you showed individual artichoke leaves, for instance, it would be difficult to ascertain that the plant was an artichoke. Artichoke leaves are shaped like baby spinach leaves, though baby spinach is more pliable. If a leaf of that shape was shown, what would distinguish the artichoke leaves? Showing an artichoke in its entire, thistly configuration makes it indisputable that it is an artichoke.

34 Epstein s points are compelling. How does one portray lettuce in an illustration? For example, this modern lettuce clip-art isn t much more lettuce-like than the illustration in the Brother Haggadah: After Pessah, on April 22, I received an additional reply from Golinkin with more sources. The entry for maror in the first edition of Encyclopedia Judaica was written by Jehudah Feliks (pp ). The entry includes an image of the maror depiction from the Sarajevo Haggadah with a caption: According to this astounding caption, lettuce is depicted in the Sarajevo Haggadah but the claim is that it can still be supposed that the artichoke-like shape of the lettuce reflects an old custom of eating artichokes as maror. This custom had already been lost in the 14th century, but was preserved in the form of illustrations of maror in haggadot! (We find something similar in the illustrations of maror in the Prague Haggadah. According to Rav Peles, the custom of pointing at the wife when stating this bitter[ness/bitter Herb] had already disappeared, but was preserved in the caption to themaror illustration in the Haggadah; see also here). However, note that above, in Golinkin s post, Feliks did not identify the Arukh s cardo as artichokes. It is not entirely clear that Feliks composed this caption. Bezalel Narkiss served as IIlustrations Consultant on the first edition (sadly

35 most illustrations were cut from the second edition, including this one and the caption). As Narkiss was then the acknowledged expert in medieval illuminated manuscripts, it stands to reason that he may have either selected the illustration or wrote the caption, either alone or in consultaion with Feliks. In any case, the author(s) of the caption maintain that lettuce is depicted even if the rest of their proposal is extremely speculative. For the Rylands Haggadah, Golinkin cited the Raphael Loewe facsimile, Steimatzky, 1988: The bitter herb is intended to be lettuce, despite its artichoke-like compactness. This pithy source contradicts Golinkin s identification, and suggests a practical explanation for this lettuce design. As for the Brother Haggadah, Golinkin wrote that he learned about this from an expert on Jewish art. However, as far as I can tell this expert does not deal primarily with interpretation of medieval art. Theories are tested by evidence. Thus, it remains that if someone wishes to argue that these images depict artichokes the best way to advance the thesis would be by means of comparisons with contemporary illustrations of artichokes, as Marc Epstein advises. Finally, an image of maror from the Barcelona Haggadah, folio 62, illustrates how creative illustrations of lettuce (?) could get and how dangerous it would be to try to learn history from them as if they were snapshots.

36 Adapted from Evelyn Cohen s description in the facsimile volume: Verso, The scribe left almost the whole of the page for a depiction of the bitter herbs, but the crude illustration we now see was not executed in the Middle Ages, although it may have been based on models from the fourteenth century. The vegetable, commonly portrayed in a highly stylized manner, was no longer understandable to the later artist, and the red holder with which it is sometimes shown seems to have been misunderstood by the artist, who interpreted it as a red crescent. The post-medieval illustrator here may have utilized haggadah depictions of artichoky lettuce as a model and was probably as bewildered by them as we are. In note 39 Cohen lists the Hispano-Moresque, Graziano, Golden, and Sister Haggadas as

37 displaying maror holders. The matzot in nothing like real matzot, with elaborate designs. The entire maror holder could be this vein, so that the maror is grounded space. Graziano Haggadah these haggadot look color and geometric a design element in and not floating in

38 Sister Haggadah

39 Hispano-Moresque Haggadah

40 Golden Haggadah Epstein adds (personal correspondence) that we should be wary of concluding on the basis of these images that Jews of Medieval Spain had actual red maror holders. They may have developed from an earlier model like the Golden Haggadah, which only meant to portray a reddish-yellow color which develops towards the base: I certainly hope enterprising Judaica forgers, the creators of Marrano cups and such don t get wind of this, or appraisers, experts and curators will have a whole new wave of fake authentic pre-expulsion Sephardi ritual items to deal with. Indeed Romaine lettuce is most suitable for maror because it generates increasing bitterness the longer one chews the leaves, and the closer one gets to that allimportant base. Romaine is appropriate for maror in

41 metaphoric terms: like the servitude in Egypt, which started out as a public works project with the full participation even of Pharaoh, and ended up as the most abject of slavery, a torture inflicted exclusively upon the Israelites. When one first begins to chew the leaves Romaine lettuce, one could think one was eating a lovely salad. More chewing, and getting eventually to the lower spine, however, makes the experience increasingly bitter. The rabbis understood that unlike the consistent blast of heat one experiences with horseradish and other truly bitter plants, it is in the initially non-bitter, even pleasant, but then the increasing nature of the bitterness of Romaine that the precise metaphor for the Egyptian servitude is experienced. It is notable that per Kogman Appel s dating, the Golden Haggadah is earlier (c. 1320) than some of the examples brought above (c ), and may have served as their model in some sense, including the fact that whatever we are seeing, (whether the veins in a single lettuce leaf, or the ruffled leaves in the head when cut open and depicted laterally, like the Chinese cabbage shown below,) gives the leaf/leaves a spiky appearance. (If there is a lateral view here, the question, of course, is why such a view was taken. Most authorities prefer whole Romaine leaves for maror, so a view cutting through the head might be confusing, although some advocate the consumption of only, or primarily the spines.) The more I think about it, although links and distinctions have been made between the opening sequence of biblical narrative illuminations in the Golden, Sister and Sarajevo Haggadot and the Rylands/Brother Haggadot, the TEXT illustrations (matzah, maror etc.) may have more mutual

42 influence and cross-influence, and relate also to those in the Barcelona Haggadah and others. Since the GH was earlier than the Sarajevo, Rylands/Brother Haggadot, the image of the maror there, clearly though stylized Romaine may have influenced, been misunderstood by the artists of the later ms. In other words, the veiny (or the lateral, or sideviewed, rippling) leaves of Romaine could have been mistaken for the spiky leaves of an artichoke and thus been illustrated. (The Sarajevo artist, for instance, depicted the artichoke leaves not only as serrated but with veins more typical of lettuce.) The Sarajevo, Rylands/Brother ARTISTS misunderstanding the [veined single lettuce leaf or laterally viewed or cut head of] lettuce in the Golden Haggadah or a similar model, might have thought they were illustrating an artichoke. The PATRONS did not correct this because OBVIOUSLY the vegetable could not have been an artichoke as there was no massoret of the use of that vegetable for maror. There for they accepted the artichoke of the artists as the lettuce of halakhah. While we can never recover the actual conversation that precipitated the visual result, both consideration of the near-instantaneous creation via the heter of the Internet of the minhag of placing artichokes on the seder plate, and the spinning of homiletics around that minhag; and the invention of the maror holder are reflections within our present conversation! of the kinds of transmission problems ever present in such conversations in any time or place. This whole adventure has, for me, been very important in thinking about artist-patron relationships. Cohen adds an interesting point (personal correspondence): I found other manuscripts where there was a blank space where the image of the maror should have been placed, while all the other areas left blank by the scribe contained illustrations. This lead me to believe that the appearance of the maror was sometimes customized based on the minhag of the patron, who for whatever reason never had it added. These are fascinating questions. The goal of the artists was to produce art which resonated with their patrons symbolically and aesthetically. By misinterpreting these images as snapshots of historical reality, we can invent artichokes and maror holders. One could just as well conclude that it was customary to only sit on one side of the Seder table! Fast forward to May, 2018, we find ourselves embroiled in a new artichoke controversy and the Seforim Blog is back with

43 artichokes in the Haggadah. This is a fascinating little post on kashrut and custom, but nothing about ancient or medieval practices can be proven from these sources. A follow-up post based on textual sources by Susan Weingarten, an expert on foods in antiquity (and incidentally, the sister of Elihu Shanun, who also spoke at the rabbinic conference on April 10, 2012 which started us off) provides a much more reliable textual path towards establishing the antiquity of artichoke consumption. In summary, there is no evidence that Jews ever ate artichokes to fulfill the obligation of consuming maror on the Passover Eve. Maybe b shas hadahak, but who knows? The textual evidence and visual evidence don t support each other to advance a radical historical claim. However, artichokes are delicious and, if clean, Kosher for Pessah. Jews very likely did consume them historically wherever they were found. Thanks to: Marc Epstein, David Golinkin, Evelyn Cohen, Sara Offenberg, Moshe Glass, and Jean Guetta. I also wish to acknowledge the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture for their support. Approbations and Restrictions: Printing the Talmud in Eighteenth Century Amsterdam and Two Frankfurts Approbations and Restrictions: Printing the Talmud in Eighteenth Century Amsterdam and Two Frankfurts by Marvin J. Heller Approbations designed to protect the investment of printers and their sponsors when publishing a large work such as the Talmud were well intentioned. Unfortunately, the results were counter-productive, resulting in acrimonious disputes between publishers within and between

44 cities. This article discusses the first approbations, issued for the Frankfurt on the Oder Talmud ( ), and the resulting dispute with printers in Amsterdam in The background of the presses and the pressmarks utilized by the printers are discussed, giving a fuller picture of the printing of the Talmud in the subject period, as well as addressing antecedent (Benveniste) and subsequent editions. Approbations for books have multiple purposes, among them commendations, indicating approval or praise for the subject work, confirming that a book s contents do not contain forbidden or prohibited matter, and to protect a publisher s investment from competitive editions for a fixed period of time. This article is concerned with the last purpose, here rabbinic approbations (hascoma, pl. hascomot) limiting or preventing rival editions of the Talmud published in the last decade of the seventeenth century into the first half of the eighteenth century. The restrictive approbations discussed here are unlike those issued previously, such as the first approbations for a Hebrew book, R. Jacob Barukh ben Judah Landau s (15th cent.) concise halakhic compendium, Sefer Ha-Agur (Naples, 1487), one of seven approbations, that of R. Judah ben Jehiel Rofe (Messer Leone, 15th cent.) stating he has examined ha-agur, and, it is a work that gives forth pleasant words.... I have, therefore, set my signature unto these nectars of the honeycomb, these words of beauty, or those in Italy or in Basle, which assured the authorities that nothing untoward or offensive to Christianity was included in the book, or to current approbations, which assure the reader that a work s contents are in conformity with the community s religious standards. In contrast, the approbation issued for the Frankfurt on the Oder Berman Talmud, and to subsequent editions, was a license for a fixed number of years, prohibiting other publishers from printing competitive editions that would prevent the printer and his sponsor(s), who would otherwise be reluctant to make the substantial investment required to print such a large multi-volume work as the Talmud, from realizing a return on their investment. The discord arising from restrictive approbations for printing the Talmud were not the first such disputes. In Amsterdam,

45 disputes between printers arose over editions of the Bible. Johannes Georgius Nisselius and Joseph Athias competed in the mid-seventeenth century over a Sacra Biblia (Hebrew Bible) for the use of students and several years later Athias and Uri Phoebus were involved in controversy over their translations of the Bible into Yiddish, competing for the Jewish market in Poland. Arguing over the right to publish for and sell to that market, they sought to reinforce their positions by seeking approbations from the Polish, as well as the Amsterdam rabbinate.[1] Nevertheless, their competition pales in contrast to the recurring altercations over the right to print the Talmud, which spanned several centuries and much of the European continent. Raphael Natan Nuta Rabbinovicz writes that the intent in granting this and subsequent approbations was for the good of the community, to insure investors a reasonable return on their investment. The result, however, was that the Talmud was printed only eight times in the century from 1697 to 1797, and the price of a set of the Talmud was dear. Prior to that the Talmud had been printed several times in Italy and Poland within a relatively short period of time, the primary impediment then being the opposition of the Church and local authorities. Rabbinovicz concludes that after 1797 the use of restrictive approbations declined, with the consequence that within four decades, to 1835, the Talmud was printed nine times.[2] During last decade of the seventeenth century into the first half of the eighteenth century several rival editions of the Talmud appeared, beginning with the Frankfurt on the Oder Talmud ( ) followed by two incomplete editions in Amsterdam ( and 1714), the Frankfurt on the Main Talmud ( ), again in Amsterdam ( ), and finally the Sulzbach Red ( ) and Black ( ). We are concerned with and focus on the early editions, that is, on the dispute between the Frankfurt on the Oder and Amsterdam printers, their dispute resulting from restrictive approbations issued to presses printing the Talmud. This article discusses the background of the Hebrew presses that published these Talmud editions in the seventeenth and eighteenth century; its primary focus, being the disputes resulting from the restrictive approbations.

46 I Amsterdam Benveniste Talmud Amsterdam has a distinguished place in Jewish history. Among the notable features of that city s Jewish community are its printing-houses, among the foremost in Europe for centuries. Highly regarded, Amsterdam imprints were distributed and sold throughout all of Europe. The preeminence of Amsterdam as a European book center is evident, for it is estimated that the output of the Dutch presses in the seventeenth century exceeded the combined production of all the presses of all other European countries. The number of book-printers totaled 273 at its peak in , employing at its height in excess of 30,000 people supported through some facet of the book trade.[3] The important works published by its presses include editions of the Talmud, beginning with the Benveniste Talmud of , through the much praised Proops Talmud of In addition to complete editions of the Talmud individual treatises, frequently in a smaller format, were also published for students and individuals who did not require or who could not afford a complete Talmud.[4] The printing of Hebrew books in Amsterdam by Jews begins in 1627, when two printers published books, Manasseh (Menasseh) Ben Israel ( ) and Daniel de Fonesca. The former s press was the first to publish with a Sephardic rite prayer-book, completed on January 1, Manasseh Ben Israel would achieve acclaim that, together with its founder s many other achievements, is still recalled today. Manasseh did not publish Talmudic tractates but his press did issue three critical editions of Mishnayot (1632, 1643, and 1646). He also intended to publish an edition of the Talmud but that did not come to pass. The next printer of Hebrew books of import in Amsterdam was Immanuel (Imanoel) Benveniste. Benveniste is believed to have been among the Jewish refugees from Spain or Portugal, and that he was descended from the illustrious Sephardic family of that name.[5] Beneveniste relocated to Amsterdam because, by the mid-seventeenth century that city offered better opportunities for the distribution of Hebrew books than any city in Italy.[6] Beneveniste was the publisher of the first Amsterdam Talmud, printed from The Benveniste Talmud is in a smaller (c. 260:195 cm.) quarto format than the usual large folio editions.[7]

47 Fig. 1 Although not subject to restrictive approbations it is included here due to its relevance to the history of the printing the Talmud in Amsterdam and because the title-pages of Benveniste s publications are distinguished by his escutcheon, an upright lion facing inward towards a tower; a star is above the lion and the tower. The lion is on the viewer s right, the tower on the left. At least six forms of Benveniste s device have been identified. In all cases, excepting his Talmudic treatises, Benveniste s insignia is set in a crest above an architectural frame surrounding the text of the title page. On the title-pages of the Benveniste tractates his mark appears at the bottom of the page in an ornamental shield, with a helmet in the crest (fig. 1). Given the high regard of most Benveniste imprints this device was subsequently used by several printers in Amsterdam, including two of the following subject editions, as well as by other presses in various locations.[8] This Talmud has been has been praised for restoring expurgated material. Unlike Benveniste s other publications, however, the Beneveniste Talmud is not highly regarded. Raphael Natan Nuta Rabbinovicz quotes from an approbation given by R. Moses Judah ha-cohen, Av Bet Din, of the Ashkenazi community in Amsterdam, for the Berman Talmud (Frankfurt on the Oder, ) which states that Benveniste, due to his concern over expenses, printed a Talmud edition which was, due to its small size, difficult to learn from. Furthermore, Benveniste used letters

48 that were the smallest of the small and blurred so that the users eyes become heavy and his sight wanders as if from old age. [9] This notwithstanding, no less a personage than the Vilna Gaon (R. Elijah ben Soloman Zalman, Gr a, ) made use of the Benveniste Talmud, Rabbinovicz writing that he had heard from a great Talmudic scholar who related that he had seen a Talmud from which the Gr a had learned by R. Judah Bachrach ( ) av bet din Seiny with his (Gr a s) handwritten annotations, brief and varied from his printed annotations, and that it was a Benveniste Talmud. [10] II Frankfurt on the Oder Michael Gottschalk Printing with Hebrew letters in Frankfurt on the Oder begins when the Christian printers Joachim and Friedreich Hartmann ( ), who, using new Hebrew fonts and vowels cast by Zechariah Crato (?) of Wittenberg, published a Hebrew Bible in While there are references to an even earlier Bible, half a century earlier, that is uncertain. More than a century later, Johann Christoph Beckmann ( ), professor of Greek language history, and theology at the University of Frankfurt on the Oder, operated a printing-press in Frankfurt on the Oder from 1673 to 1717, which he acquired from his brother Friedreich on June 1, 1673 for 400 Thaler; Friedreich, in turn, had purchased the press for a like amount. Beckmann obtained a travel scholarship from the Brandenburg Elector and, during his travels in Europe came to Amsterdam. In 1663, in that city, Beckmann met Jewish students, the renowned R. Jacob Abendana ( ), and studied Talmud. In 1666, Beckmann returned to Frankfurt, where he obtained a position at the university (Viadrina), teaching there until his death in 1717 and serving as rector eight times. Because of the admission of Jewish students, the Viadrina became the Amsterdam of the East, both Hebrew and oriental studies being of importance.[11] Beckmann was granted, initially, on May 1, 1675, a license to employ two Jewish workers, under the direct protection of the university, to print a Hebrew Bible, this despite of the protests of Frankfurt city. By 1693, however, Beckmann found that his responsibilities at the university left him with insufficient time to manage the press. Therefore, he contracted with Michael Gottschalk, a local bookbinder and book-dealer to manage the printing-house, transferring all of

49 the typographical equipment and material to Gottschalk. Their arrangement was noted on the title-pages of the books issued by the press, which stated with the letters of Lord Johann Christoph Beckmann, Doctor and Professor... at the press of Michael Gottschalk. Gottschalk became the moving spirit of the press for almost four decades. After printing several varied Hebrew titles Gottschalk approached Beckmann, requesting that he obtain permission to reprint the Talmud. Beckmann petitioned Friedreich III, Elector of Brandenburg ( , reigned , from 1701 King of Prussia), requesting a license to print the Talmud. Friedreich, in turn, sought the counsel of the Berlin professor Dr. Daniel Ernest Jablonski ( ), from 1691, court preacher at Königsberg for the elector of Brandenburg, Friederick III. Jablonski, a Christian German theologian of Czech origin, an orientalist, had been associated with universities in Holland and England, settling in Lissa in 1686, and from there moving to Berlin. In 1700, Jablonski became a member of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin. Jablonski established a Hebrew press in Berlin, publishing a scholarly edition of the Hebrew Bible based on the Leusden edition (Amsterdam, 1667, Atthias) and a translation of Richard Bentley s A Confutation of Atheism into Latin (Berlin, 1696). Jablonski, was to become personally involved with Hebrew printing in Berlin, and would be participate in the publishing of two later editions of the Talmud. When a sponsor was sought for the Frankfurt on the Oder Talmud, Beckmann found one in the Court Jew Issachar (Ber Segal) ha-levi Bermann ( ) of Halberstadt, known as Bermann Halberstadt or, in his commercial dealings with the non-jewish world, as Behrend Lehmann. It was Bermann who bore the cost of this Talmud, and whose name is associated with it. Selma Stern observes that Bermann was a pious and observant Jew throughout his life. He was held in high regard by his fellow Jews; and was described as a second Joseph of Egypt and the chosen of the Lord, who warns him about the machinations of his enemies and miraculously rescues him when he is in dire straits. Bermann was known among his people as the founder of the Klaus in Halberstadt, the publisher of the Talmud, the man who defeated the first Prussian king at chess

50 and who even in the glittering world of the Court never forgot Eternal Truth, corresponded to the ideal which Jews have had of their great men leaders. [12] Beckmann and Bermann entered into an agreement to publish the Talmud, Beckmann transferring his rights to Bermann, and the latter accepting responsibility for publishing the entire edition, making an initial payment of three hundred reichsthalers at the time of the agreement.[13] The printer was to be the Christian, Michael Gottschalk. Approximately half of the sets of this Talmud, known as the Berman Talmud, were distributed by Bermann to yeshivot and penurious scholars who could not otherwise have acquired a complete Talmud. Not only did he spend fifty thousand reichthalers of his own money to publish the Talmud, from which he apparently saw no financial gain, distributing copies to Talmudic students, but afterwards granted permission to the Amsterdam and Frankfurt on the Main printers to publish a complete Talmud, this in spite of the fact that he had approbations preventing republication of competitive editions.[14]

51 Fig. 2 Each volume of this Talmud has two title-pages. The first, a volume header page, has an engraved copper plate title-page (fig. 2) by the craftsman Martin Bernigeroth ( ), Dt. Kupferstecher u. Zeichner (engraver and illustrator).[15] This initial title-page consists of an upright lamb with a pitcher on top of a portico. Below it, on the sides of the page, are Moses to the right and Aaron to the left. Beneath them, similarly situated, are King David with a harp, and King Solomon. Above each figure is that individuals name. Avraham Habermann and Avraham Yaari both write that the sheep and laver represent Bermann, who was a Levi. Yaari adds that the sheep further represents Bermann s mazel or constellation, for Bermann was born on the 24th of Nissan (April 23), 1661,

52 the astrological symbol for that month being a sheep.[16] The second textual tractate title-page follows immediately after the volume title-page. The tractate title-pages are basically copied, with several modifications, from the Benveniste Talmud; but also includes some features characteristic of the Basel Talmud, which is supposed to be the source of this edition. The text concludes in Latin, informing that it is in accordance with expurgations of the Council of Trent.... and that it was printed in conformity with the Basle edition ( ). Between the Hebrew and Latin text is Michael Gottschalk s printer s mark (fig. 3), which appears on the title-pages of this Talmud. It is a mirror-image monogram (cipher) of his name, the first usage of such a monogram in a Hebrew book.[17] Fig. 3 Printed with this Talmud are approbations for the edition. When Johann Christoph Beckmann secured permission in 1695 from the Kaiser, Leopold, and from Friedreich Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, to print the Talmud, he was given not only authorization to print the Talmud, but was also granted the sole and exclusive right to do so for twelve years. Leading rabbinic figures, according to Rabbinovicz, issued restrictive approbations, the first instance in which such rabbinic licenses were granted. The rabbis who signed the approbations were R. Naftali ben Isaac ha-kohen Katz, av bet

53 din (head of the rabbinical court) of Pozna, R. Joseph Samuel of Cracow, av bet din of Frankfurt on the Main, R. David ben Abraham Oppenheim, av bet din of Nikolsburg, and R. Moses Judah ha Kohen and R. Jacob Sasportas of Amsterdam concurred in granting this monopoly, issuing approbations (hascomas) for twenty years. These approbations were unlike those issued previously in Italy, which assured the authorities that nothing untoward or offensive to them was included in the book, or current approbations, which assure the reader that a work s contents are in conformity with the community s religious standards. The approbation issued for this Talmud, and to subsequent editions, was a license for a fixed number of years, prohibiting other publishers from printing competitive editions that would prevent the printer and his sponsor(s), who would otherwise be reluctant to make the substantial investment required to print the Talmud, from realizing a return on their investment. Oppenheim refers to the burning of the Talmud and other Hebrew books in the Chnielnicki massacres tah ve-tat ( ), fires that resulted in the loss of many Hebrew books, resulting in a dire need for Talmudic tractates. Indeed, he writes that the entire Jewish educational system was endangered due to insufficient copies of the Talmud. He praises Lehmann, noting his benevolence in distributing half of the copies to needy students free of charge.[18] Towards the end of his long and flowery approbation Oppenheim forbids the printing of the Talmud by anyone without the permission of Issachar Bermann SG L, from the day that printing commences until twenty years have elapsed from its completion. This prohibition is whether for all or for part, even for one tractate only, whether for oneself or for others, and is not to be done by means of guile or ruse. To enforce his decree R. Oppenheim states that this decree falls equally upon the purchaser as well as the seller, for that which a rabbinic court declares ownerless is ownerless. Any [such tractate] found in a person s possession without license, is to be taken forcibly, without payment or deed... [20] Similarly, R. Joseph Samuel of Cracow begins by praising Berman, noting that all realize that these many days many thought to print the Talmud due to its being unavailable, not

54 to be found, except one to a city and two to a family. He notes, however, that although many wanted to print the Talmud it was to no avail, for it is a large project of much work and difficult to complete, until the Lord aroused the spirit of R. Berman of Halberstadt for the public benefit and the honor of the Torah, to print an entire Talmud on good paper, with fine ink, and diligent workers, well edited. Lest there be many who bear gall and wormwood (Deuteronomy 29:17) who also wish to print the Talmud and therefore cause great harm R. Berman s interests, and lock the door before him (cf. Bekhorot 10b) who performs a great mitzvah to benefit the public, for such is such thetorah, and such is its reward (Berakhot 21b, Menahot 21b)? He therefore, concurs with the other leading rabbis to decree, Excommunication and a ban on each and every person who should take it upon himself to print the Talmud in its entirety or in whole or in part without the agreement and knowledge of the noble R. Berman, except for a section needed to learn in yehivot, which is not included in the ban. It is permitted to print only that section and not a complete tractate in order to magnify the Torah, and make it glorious (Isaiah 42:21). A blessing should come upon he who hearkens to our words, may blessings of good come upon him and may he receive good from God Who is good. But he who breaches through a fence, shall be bitten by a serpent (Avodah Zara 27b)... and all the curses written in the Torah shall come upon him.... Even before the privilege for this Talmud had expired the need for a new edition became apparent, numerous appeals being made to Issachar Bermann to republish the Talmud. Gottschalk, who had the rights granted to Beckmann, was also favorable to reprinting the Talmud. The Talmud had sold well and Gottschalk, as a result, had become a wealthy man.[20] Frederick William I of Prussia acceded to their request on May 23, and a new privilege, dated October 13, 1710, was granted to Gottschalk by Joseph I, successor to Leopold, in 1705, to print the Talmud and sell it throughout his domain, albeit with the customary restrictions and with the provision, as with all Hebrew books, that five copies be brought to the Imperial court. Similarly, on January 11, 1711, Frederick Augustus I (Augustus II), Elector of Saxony and King

55 of Poland, also granted such a privilege. Nevertheless, these privileges were not immediately acted upon by Gottschalk and it would be several years before he printed the second of his three editions of the Talmud.[21] III Marches and de Palasios and Solomon Proops Individual tractates were frequently published in Amsterdam, to address the continuing communal need for treatises for study purposes. The printers of these tractates include Moses Mendes Coutinho, Asher Anshel and Issachar Ber, Issac de Cordova, Joseph Dayyan and Moses Frankfurter, the latter two dayyanim (judges) of the Ashkenaz religious court. During the interval between the Benveniste and the Frankfurt on the Oder editions of the Talmud no complete Talmud had been printed. It must have appeared unseemly, however, that in Amsterdam, the center of Hebrew printing, with the greatest number of, and the largest, Hebrew printing-presses, that no Talmud edition had been issued for over six decades. An attempt to correct this, even if that was not the printers primary intent, occurred during the interval between the first and second Frankfurt on the Oder editions of the Talmud. two independent editions of the Talmud were begun in Amsterdam in The first was published by the partners Samuel ben Solomon Marcheses and Raphael ben Joshua de Palasios, the second by Solomon Proops. Both publishers began to print in 1714; both editions are in attractive large folio format; the title-pages of both Talmuds have, as a printer s device, copies of the Benveniste escutcheon (figs. 4, 5). Most importantly, neither Talmud edition was completed. Except for a Sephardic rite prayer-book, printed by Samuel Marcheses at the press of Joseph Athias, neither partner, prominent members of the Amsterdam Sephardic community, had previously published any works. Their motivation in establishing a press was for the specific purpose of printing the Talmud. Furthermore, they intended to do so in such a manner as to produce an especially fine and accurate edition. The workers would not be hurried, so that they could work with care, reducing errors, supervised by R. Moses Frankfurter, who would help establish the correct text.[22] Marcheses and de Palasios did so under the influence of R. Judah Aryeh Loeb ben Joseph Samuel Schotten ha-kohen ( ), av bet din of Frankfurt on the Main, and his father-in-law R. Samuel Settin

56 of Frankfurt n Main. Judah Aryeh Loeb had previously attempted to have a Talmud printed in Frankfurt in 1710 but, due to the prior approbations granted to the Frankfurt on the Oder Talmud his efforts were to no avail, and he was unable to get authorization from the emperor to print the Talmud. In 1713, Judah Aryeh Loeb explored the possibility of obtaining permission to print in Frankfurt from the Kaiser in Vienna, but did not even receive a response to his inquiries. Judah Aryeh Loeb next turned to Amsterdam where, with the assistance of his father-in-law and the agreement of R. Issachar (Ber Segal) ha-levi Bermann who had the prior approbation he commenced to print the Talmud.[23] Subsequently Samuel Settin arranged for Samuel Marches and Joshua de Palasios to undertake this venture, arranging for R. Zvi Hirsh of Sharbishin, at the time a resident of Amsterdam, to visit various Jewish communities, seeking subscribers to defray the cost of publication.[24] Printing began with tractate Berakhot in 1714; the following tractates are recorded by Rabbinovicz as having been printed: 1715 Shabbat and Seder Zera im: 1716 Eruvin, Pesahim, Hagigah, Mo ed Katan, Yoma, Shekalim, Megillah, and Ketubbot: 1717 Bezah, Rosh Ha-Shanah, Sukkah, Ta anit, and Yevamot.[25] Printing was discontinued in 1717 due to the approbations issued to the Frankfurt on the Oder printer for the Berman Talmud. The approbations for this edition appear in tractate Shabbat. They are from R. Solomon ben Jacob Ayllon, R. Gabriel ben Judah Loeb of Cracow, R. Samuel ben Joseph Schotten ha-kohen, R. Baruch ben Moses Meir Rappaport, R. Ezekiel ben Abraham of the house of Katzenellenbogen, R. Menahem Mendel Ashkenazi, R. Isaac Aaron ben Joseph Israel of Metz, and R. Phineas ben Simeon Wolff Auerbach of Cracow. The approbation of R. Menahem Mendel Ashkenazi, at the time Landesrabbiner in Bamberg and Baiersdorf, subjected anyone who violated the copyright to excommunication, placing a ban, and anathema, and death on anyone who would reprint the Talmud during twenty years from the completion of this edition without the knowledge or permission of the above [Judah Aryeh Loeb] in any manner, whether in its entirety or in part, even a single tractate, excepting a section

57 needed for learning in the yeshivot according to the requirements of the times, whether by himself or by his agent or his agent s agent, directly or indirectly, whether a member of his household or not a member of his household... and he who heeds our words shall be blessed... Marcheses and de Palasios acknowledge the existence of the prior restrictive approbation for the Berman Talmud on the title-pages of their tractates, which note that most of its benefits can be attributed to the Talmud of R. Issachar Bermann of Halberstadt, and also state [And even though] most of the qualities to be found in this Talmud were acceded to me by the noble, the eminent, the distinguished R. Issachar Bermann Segal of Halberstadt even though the time restricting publication established by the geonim of the land for the above noble (Berman) for printing his Talmud has not yet elapsed. An palanquin to the above eminent noble for this. Now My eyes and my heart are always toward the Lord (cf. Psalms 25:15)...

58 Fig , Berakhot, Marches and de Palasios

59 Fig , Berakhot, Solomon Proops In the same year, 1714, that Berakhot was published a second Talmud was begun in Amsterdam. The publisher of that edition was Solomon ben Joseph Proops, then a book dealer, Maecenas to numerous Amsterdam publishers, and the founder of the famous Proops press. He had been a book-dealer and financed and partnered in a number of works published at other presses before establishing his own press in The printing-house founded by Solomon Proops would become one of the most illustrious in the history of Amsterdam Hebrew printing. It issued, almost simultaneously with the Marches and de Palasios edition, a copy of Berakhot with Seder Zera im, possibly followed by Bezah.

60 Proops was unable to continue with his proposed Talmud edition, publishing one (two) volume(s) only. Judah Aryeh Loeb, relying on the approbations given his Talmud prior to the Proops edition, objected to the publication of a rival Talmud, and brought the matter before a rabbinic court. The court s enjoined Proops from printing additional tractates, and trespassing on Judah Aryeh Loeb s rights as a printer. To avoid further difficulties of this sort, Marques and de Palasios secured approbations from leading rabbinic authorities for their Talmud, prohibiting other printers from publishing a Talmud. Rabbinovicz observes that Proop s defense, that he was unaware that Samuel Marches and Joshua de Palasios were already engaged in the publication of the Talmud, was untenable. Proops had to know that R. Judah Aryeh Loeb was publishing tractates in Amsterdam. Proops might argue that he had begun Berakhot prior to the other press, was unaware of their approbations, and having begun, should be allowed to complete his work. This was not the last law suit concerning the Talmud that Judah Aryeh Loeb had to contest. Although we can sympathize with Judah Aryeh Leib s difficulties with Solomon Proops, there is a certain poetic justice to his situation, for just as he protested the Proops Talmud in Amsterdam, so too did he face objections from the Frankfurt on the Oder printer. As noted above, Michael Gottschalk, the Berlin and Frankfurt on the Oder printer, who had printed his first Talmud ( ) and would subsequently print two additional two editions of the Talmud ( , ), brought a suit to force Judah Aryeh Loeb and the partners to cease printing their Talmud. In addition to his prior approbations Gottschalk claimed that he had obtained the sole authorization to print his second Talmud, again for twenty years, from Kaiser Joseph I of Germany in 1710, King Frederick Augusta of Poland and Saxony in 1711, Kaiser Karl VI and King Frederick Wilheim in Gottschalk filed his complaint in mid Rabbinovicz writes that he does not know why Gottschalk waited so long to exercise his rights to stop the printing of this edition. Gottschalk had obtained royal permission, as well as rabbinic approbations, as early as Instead, he permitted Judah Aryeh Loeb to print a number of tractates over a period

61 of several years before he acted. According to Friedberg, in that year, Samuel Schotten took tractates from the Amsterdam Talmud to the book fair in Lippsia (Leipzig). There were several book fairs of importance in Germany, among the most important being those of Frankfurt on the Main from as early as 1240 and the Leipzig (Lippsia) fair, which predates it, from Both locations were centers of the printing industry, Frankfurt midway between north and south, Lippsia in the north. Although Frankfurt initially overshadow Leipzig, it later was forced to yield to the Saxon city.... which became... the centre of German book publishing. Leipzig s importance can be further credited, not in its number of presses but in its number of shops, its number of book dealers, and publishing houses. Furthermore, although many German cities had book fairs, Leipzig was one of the most important fairs eastern and south Eastern Europe and soon utilized the advantage of her connections for the development of the book trade. [26] It is not surprising then, that Moses Schotten, the son of Samuel Schotten, attended the book fair.[27] Returning to Friedberg s account of events, Moses Schotten attended the Leipzig book fair, bringing samples of the tractates printed in Amsterdam. Gottschalk waited for him and then ambushed him in secret. Immediately after Schotten arrived in Leipzig Gottschalk contacted the fair officials, that the tractates brought by Schotten should be confiscated. The fair officials did not act, however, instead awaiting instructions from the prince of the district capital, Dresden, who delayed until the conclusion of the fair. In the interim, Schotten was able to sell the tractates that he had brought without hindrance. Gottschalk returned home, bitter, and submitted a complaint on January 3, 1716 to the king. In it Gottschalk related what had occurred at the fair and petitioned the king for recourse against those who had trampled with their feet on his legal rights. The king responded to affirmatively to Gottschalk on February 12, 1716, prohibiting the sale of the Talmud at the fair by anyone except Gottschalk. Several additional tractates were printed in Amsterdam and Schotten returned, in October 3, 1717, to the fair. Gottschalk, when he became aware of this, informed the officials of their obligations and this occasion

62 all the books (tractates) that Schotten brought with him were seized. Moses Schotten justified his actions, stating that he had come only as an agent of his father, Samuel Schotten, from Frankfurt on the Main. If the fair officials had complaints they should bring them to that city. Although Gottschalk was successful in preventing the sale at the fair and the further publication of tractates from this Talmud in Amsterdam ceased in 1717, his victory was short lived. Soon after Judah Aryeh Loeb was able to resume printing in Frankfurt on the Main, publishing a fine and complete Talmud.[28] III Frankfurt on the Main Talmud Printing was relatively late in coming to Frankfurt on the Main, partly due to its proximity to Mainz, an early center of printing. The first Frankfurt printer was Beatus Murner, who printed nine books in Among those nine titles are the first books printed in Frankfurt with Hebrew letters, a 1512 editions of a Birkat ha-mazon Benedicite Judeorum (Hebrew in woodcut) and Hukat ha-pesach Ritus et celebrate phase judeorum by Beatus Murner s better known brother, Thomas Murner, a Maronite brother and enemy of Martin Luther. The printing of a significant number of Hebrew books begins in the last decades of the seventeenth century, in about Four hundred ninety titles, albeit some questionable, are ascribed to Frankfurt in the hundred-year period from 1640 to 1739.[29] Johann Koelner ( ), who published a complete Talmud ( ) is credited with more than one hundred titles, although that number includes each of the tractates in his edition of the Talmud.[30] This Talmud was initially the completion of the Talmud begun in Amsterdam in 1714 by R. Judah Aryeh Loeb together with Samuel Marches and Joshua de Palasios interrupted by the suit, based on approbations for his edition, brought by Michael Gottschalk Judah Aryeh Loeb now attempted, successfully, to complete the Talmud he had begun in Amsterdam in Frankfurt on the Main. Given that Gottschalk, based on the approbations he had received for his second Talmud, was able to prevent publication of Judah Aryeh Loeb s Talmud in Amsterdam, only three years earlier, how was Judah Aryeh Loeb able to publish a complete Talmud only three years later in Frankfurt? Friedberg writes, tersely, that the eminent, the prominent R.

63 Samson Wertheimer from Vilna, court Jew of Karl VI, influenced him to give Aryeh Loeb ben Joseph Samuel av bet din Frankfurt on the Main authorization to print a new edition of the Talmud. The sovereign acceded to his request and authorized publication of the Talmud in Frankfurt from [31] Rabbinovicz remarks that the interruption in the work on the Amsterdam edition and the ensuing great expense, as well as the bribes in the courts until Aryeh Leib succeeded, left him in reduced financial condition, until Samson Wertheimer, became involved, making it possible to continue and publish this fine edition.[32] Fig. 6 Approbations were also published with this Talmud, primarily reprints from the Amsterdam edition and with one new approbation, from R. Jacob ben Benjamin Katz (Poppers, Shav Ya akov) (1719). Another example of the continuity of the two editions is that the volumes issued in both cities are alike, the title pages showing minor textual variations only, such as the new place of publication, and on some but not all of the Frankfurt tractates, the inclusion of accompanying Latin text, confirming that it was printed in accordance with the text of the censor Marco Marino (Basle Talmud, ) and variations of the printer s mark. Whereas the treatises printed in Amsterdam have a new woodcut of the Benveniste printer s mark,

64 the Frankfurt volumes, although retaining the outer crest with helmet, replace the lion and tower with the double headed eagle of the Hapsburgs (fig. 6). Printing began in Frankfurt on the Main in 1720 with tractate Kiddushin, it having been anticipated that they would be allowed to bring the tractates printed previously in Amsterdam to Frankfurt. However, this was not permitted, so that they began to print the remainder of the Talmud, beginning with Berakhot completing the Talmud until Kiddushin that year, except for Seder Zera im and tractate Ta anit which were printed in Another possibility, suggested by Rabbinovicz, is that they were allowed to publicly sell the tractates printed in Amsterdam in Germany, but the market for the tractates printed in Frankfurt exceeded expectations, so that, to complete sets of the Talmud it was necessary to reprint those tractates printed earlier in Amsterdam.[33] IV Aftermath The next controversy over rival editions of the Talmud occurred with the second printing of the Talmud by the Proops press in This edition, published by Solomon Proop s sons, Joseph, Jacob, and Abraham, is a large, very fine folio edition. Publication was interrupted for several reasons, but primarily due to the publication of rival editions of the Talmud in Sulzbach by Meshullam Zalman Frankel and afterwards by his sons, Aaron and Naphtali, that is, the Sulzbach Red ( ) and the Sulzbach Black ( ). The first Sulzbach Talmud is known as Sulzbach red because the first title-page in the volume was printed with red ink, in contrast to Sulzbach black, in which the first title-page in the volume is printed entirely in black ink. Both the red and the black are smaller folio and not highly regarded. Resolution of the dispute between the two publishing houses was settled by a rabbinic court that determined, among its findings, that despite Proops prior approbations the Sulzbach printer did not have to desist from publishing, for the Sulzbach Talmud was less expensive and therefore available to individuals who could not afford the larger and finer Amsterdam Talmud, the latter marketed to a more affluent market. One other dispute of significance, that embroiled leading

65 rabbis in Europe, was over the rival editions of the Talmud printed by the Shapira press in Slavuta and the Romm press in Vilna of their respective editions of the Talmud in Both the Amsterdam-Sulzbach and Slavuta-Vilna disputes are beyond the scope of this article. However, they, as well as the controversy surrounding the Frankfurt on the Oder and Amsterdam editions of the Talmud, the subject of this article, confirm Raphael Natan Nuta Rabbinovicz s observation as to the negative and disruptive results of restrictive approbations. Even though the intent in granting approbations was for the good of the community, to insure investors a reasonable return on their investment, the result, as noted above, was detrimental. The Talmud was printed only eight times in the century from 1697 to 1797, and the price of a set of the Talmud was dear. Prior to that the Talmud had been printed several times in Italy and Poland within a relatively short period of time, the primary impediment then being the opposition of the Church and local authorities. After 1797 the use of restrictive approbations declined, with the consequence that within four decades the Talmud was printed nine times, this notwithstanding the Slavuta-Vilna rivalry. Given these controversies and their negative outcomes, perhaps a better course for all would have been to apply Hillel s admonition in Avot. Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace. (Avot 1:12) [1] L. Fuks and R. G. Fuks Mansfeld, Hebrew Typography in the Northern Netherlands , (Leiden, ), I pp , II pp , 297. [2] Raphael Natan Nuta Rabbinovicz, Ma amar al Hadpasat hatalmud with Additions, ed. A. M. Habermann pp. 100, (Jerusalem, 1952) [Hebrew]. [3] H. I. Bloom, The Economic Activities of the Jews of Amsterdam (Port Washington, 1969), p. 45. [4] Concerning individual tractates not printed as part of a Talmud in this period see Marvin J. Heller, Printing the Talmud: A History of the Individual Treatises Printed from 1700 to 1750 (Leiden, 1999). [5] The Benveniste family, distinguished and widespread in Spain and Provence, is mentioned as early as 1079 in documents from Barcelona. After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 the family was widely dispersed, but primarily throughout

66 the Ottoman Empire where many eminent rabbis were named Benvensite. ( Benveniste, Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. 2nd ed. Vol. 3 (Detroit, Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 4 Jan. 2012). [6] A. M. Habermann, The History of the Hebrew Book. From Marks to Letters; From Scroll to Book (Jerusalem, 1968), p. 155 [Hebrew]. [7] In addition to the well-known commercial edition, there was also a deluxe edition, measuring 310 x 225 mm. This was brought to my attention by of Daniel Kestenbaum of Kestenbaum and Company. [8] Concerning the widespread use of the Benveniste device see my The Printer s Mark of Immanuel Benveniste and its Later Influence, Studies in Bibliography and Booklore XVIII (Cincinnati, 1993), pp. 3-14, reprinted in Studies in the Making of the Early Hebrew Book (Brill, Leiden/Boston, 2008), pp Parenthetically, among the first to employ the Benveniste escutcheon on a tractate title-page was the press of Asher Anshel ben Eliezer Chazzen and Issachar Ber ben Abraham Eliezer of Minden in their edition of Bava Batra (1702). Their other tractate, Bava Mezia (1699) does not have the Benveniste escutcheon. [9] Rabbinovicz, pp [10] Rabbinovicz, p. 129 no. 1. Yaakov Shmuel Spiegel, Amudim be-toldot ha-sefer ha-ivri: Hagahot u-megihim (RamatGan, 1996), pp [Hebrew] adds that the Vilna Gaon learned from and made annotations on the Berlin Frankfurt on the Oder Talmud of [11] [12] Selma Stern, The Court Jew. A Contribution to the History of Absolutism in Central Europe (Philadelphia, 1950), pp [13] Friedberg. History of Hebrew Typography of the following Cities in Central Europe: Altona, Augsberg, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfort M., Frankfort O., Fürth, Hamberg, Hanau, Heddernheim, Homberg, Ichenhausen, Neuwied, Wandsbeck, and Wilhermsdorf. Offenbach, Prague, Sulzbach, Thannhausen from its beginning in the year 1513 (Antwerp, 1935), p. 37 [Hebrew]. [14] Manfred R. Lehmann, Behrend Lehmann: The King of the Court Jews In: Sages and Saints, ed. Leo Jung (Hoboken, 1987), p. 205; Ya akov Loyfer, Mi-Shontsino ve-ad

67 V ilna (Jerusalem: ha-modia, 2012), p. 139 [Hebrew]. [15] A highly regarded engraver, Martin Bernigeroth is known to have done as many as 1600 engravings, many portraits. His sons, John Martin ( ) and Johann Benedict ( ), were also worked noted engravers. Concerning the former see, Joseph Strutt, A Biographical Dictionary, containing an historical account of all the engravers, from the earliest period of the art of engraving to the present time, and a short list of their most esteemed works... I (London, 1785), p. 88. [16] Avraham Habermann, Title Pages of Hebrew Books, (Tel Aviv, 1969), pp. 63, 130 no. 47 [Hebrew]; Yaari, Printers Marks, pp. 49, 152 no. 78. [17] Avraham Yaari, Hebrew Printers Marks (Jerusalem, 1943), pp. 50, 152 no. 79 [Hebrew]; Marvin J. Heller, Mirror-image Monograms as Printers Devices on the Title Pages of Hebrew Books Printed in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, Printing History 40. Rochester, N. Y., 2000, pp. 2-11, reprinted in Studies, pp , 363, figs [18] Menahem Schmelzer, Hebrew Printing and Publishing in Germany, , in Leo Baeck Institute Year Book XXXIII (London, Jerusalem, New York, 1988), p [19] That which a rabbinic court declares ownerless is ownerless is discussed in Yevamot 89b, Gittin 36b and Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim 3a. The source for this concept is Ezra 10:8 And anyone who will not come within three days, as according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his property will be forfeited and he will be separated from the congregation of the captivity. [20] Institut für angewandte Geschichte Gessellschaft und Wissenschaft im Dialog e. V. [21] Friedberg, Central Europe, pp ; William Popper, The Censorship of Hebrew Books (New York, 1899, reprint New York: Burt Franklin, 1968), pp [22] Ch. B. Friedberg, History of Hebrew Typography of the following Cities in Europe: Amsterdam, Antwerp, Avignon, Basle, Carlsruhe, Cleve, Coethen, Constance, Dessau, Deyhernfurt, Halle, Isny, Jessnitz, Leyden, London, Metz, Strasbourg, Thiengen, Vienna, Zurich. From its beginning in the year 1516, (Antwerp, 1937), p. 43[Hebrew]. [23] Friedberg, Central Europe, pp 44-45; William Popper, The Censorship of Hebrew Books (New York, 1899, reprint New York: Burt Franklin, 1968), p [24] Friedberg, Amsterdam, p. 43. [25] Rabbinovicz, p [26] James Westfall Thompson, The Frankfort Book Fair. The

68 Francofordiense Emporium of Henri Estiene: Edited with Historical Introduction Original Latin Text with English Translation on Opposite Pages and Notes (Chicago, 1911, republished New York, 1968), pp , 15, 42. [27] Jewish attendance at book fairs appears to have been common place. It was at the Frankfurt on the Main book fair in 1577 that Ambrosius Froben met R. Simon Guenzburg (Simon zur Gemze) of Frankfurt, a meeting that eventually culminated in the Basle Talmud ( ). Concerning this see my Printing the Talmud: A History of the Earliest Printed Editions of the Talmud (Brooklyn, 1992), p [28] Friedberg, Central Europe, p. 46. [29] Yeshayahu Vinograd, Thesaurus of the Hebrew Book. Listing of Books Printed in Hebrew Letters Since the Beginning of Printing circa 1469 through 1863 II (Jerusalem, ), pp [Hebrew]. [30] Vinograd, I p [31] Friedberg, Central Europe, p. 67. [32] Rabbinovicz, p [33] Rabbinovicz, pp Gems from Rav Herzog s Archive (Part 1 of 2): Giyus, Professor Lieberman and More Gems from Rav Herzog s Archive (Part 1 of 2): Giyus, Professor Lieberman and More By Yaacov Sasson A tremendous resource that will be of great interest to Seforim Blog s readers has been made available to the public. The entire archive of the great Rav Yitzchak Eizik Halevi Herzog, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, has been scanned and is now available online.[1] The archive contains hundreds of files on a wide range of topics, including Rav Herzog s Piskei Halacha and Torah novellae, extensive correspondence on Israeli politics, Rav Herzog s efforts to save Jews of Europe, and much more. Each file is dedicated to a specific topic, and many of these files contain upwards of a hundred pages of

69 material. In short, the archive is a veritable treasure trove, and will be of great interest to those who are students of Torah, Halacha and Jewish history. Much of Rav Herzog s Torah has been published in his numerous seforim; however, there is a significant amount of unpublished material in the archive. The purpose of this article is to make readers aware of some of the gems found in the archive, in particular the significant unpublished material. I have only begun to look through the vast amount of material that is available, and I am certain that there is much more to be found. The following are a select number of documents and files that I think will be of interest to the Seforim blog s readers. I Giyus Bnai Yeshivot The archive contains an entire file dedicated to the always controversial issue of giyus bnai yeshivot, whether yeshiva students ought to be drafted to the army or exempted from the draft.[2] Within this file, there is an approximately 50page kuntres written by Rav Herzog in 1948, dedicated to a halachic analysis of the topic. To the best of my knowledge, this very significant kuntres was never published, and it does not appear in any of Rav Herzog s seforim.[3] Rav Herzog addresses the issue in an extremely thorough manner, and deals with a wide variety of relevant sources and issues, such as the definition of milchemet mitzvah, and the words of the Rambam at the end of Hilchot Shemita VeYovel, among other issues. For example, on page 27, he discusses the possibility of milchemet mitzvah in the absence of a king, and concludes that milchemet mitzvah is still possible if the community of Jews living in Eretz Yisrael approves of the war. On page 12, Rav Herzog suggests, based on a diyuk, that the Rambam s words at the end of Hilchot Shemita VeYovel exempting talmidei chachamim from waging war do not apply to a war of ezrat yisrael miyad tzar. (A similar reading of the Rambam was suggested by Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, in The Ideology of Hesder (Tradition Fall 1981), and was reprinted in Leaves of Faith Volume 1.) Rav Herzog also makes a fascinating contention (on page 2), that the British were the current-day manifestation of Esav, putting forward their split hoof and hypocritically claiming to seek justice, while quietly attempting to undermine the Jewish cause by supporting their enemies. It is obviously not feasible to summarize a 50

70 page kuntres in a single blog post; I will simply present Rav Herzog s main conclusion. Rav Herzog suggests (pages 12 and 34) that yeshiva students should not be subject to giyus malei, full conscription, even during wartime. Rather, they should be subject to giyus chelki, partial conscription of a few hours a week, doing what Rav Herzog terms hishtatfut in the war effort, such as local shemira and the like. While this was Rav Herzog s halachic conclusion in the kuntres, when the issue of forced conscription became a potential reality ten years later, Rav Herzog sent a heartfelt letter to Ben-Gurion, pleading for the exemption of bnai yeshivot, since they are already conscripted to the security of Torah and the heritage of Am Yisrael, and their Torah learning is a shield for Am Yisrael. This letter, which is found in the file of Rav Herzog s correspondence with BenGurion[4], appears below:

71

72

73 Another noteworthy document in the file on giyus bnai yeshivot is a 1948 telegram from the Roshei Yeshiva of the American yeshivot, expressing their shock at the possibility of giyus bnai yeshivot, and urging Rav Herzog and Rav Uziel to make sure that bnai yeshivot remain exempt from army service. The telegram appears below, as well as my transcription of the telegram into Hebrew:

74 נבהלנו מאד לשמוע שאומרים לבטל השחרור של בני הדבר נוגע לנפש ורוח חיי. ישיבות ולקחתם לצבא אומתנו ויגרום חילול השם בין הגויים המשחררים בשעת אפילו הצבא מעבודת ישיבות בני רוע להעביר תוקף בכל השתדלו. מלחמה בשם כל. ואין מעצר להש]ם[ להושיע, הגזירה, הישיבות Kotler Gordon Grosowski Zaks Joffen Levenstein Kalmanowitz Kamenetzki Bloch Belkin Shatz[k]es Soloveitchik Feinstein Ehrenfeld Hutner Lifshitz Leibowitz Korb Ruderman Rothenberg[5] The telegram is especially noteworthy because of the appearance of the names of the Charedi Roshei Yeshiva, such as Rav Aharon Kotler, Rav Reuven Grozovsky, Rav Moshe Feinstein etc. together with the names of the more modern Roshei Yeshiva of RIETS: the Rav, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveichik, and Dr. Samuel Belkin. Such collaboration would seem to be almost impossible in later years. II Professor Saul Lieberman on Rav Herzog s Torat Ha-Ohel Rav Herzog maintained a close relationship with Professor Saul Lieberman, as Dr. Marc Shapiro has mentioned previously on the Seforim blog[6], and noted in his Saul Lieberman and the Orthodox, page 22.[7] It should therefore come as no surprise

75 that Rav Herzog s archive contains correspondence between him and Lieberman. The letter that appears below was sent by Lieberman to Rav Herzog, and contains Lieberman s haarot on Rav Herzog s Torat Ha-Ohel, his sefer on the Rambam s Hilchot Sanhedrin.[8] In this letter, Lieberman first discusses the proper girsaot in the relevant Rambam and the gemara in Makot regarding minuy dayanim. He then addresses Rav Herzog s question of how it could be possible that bnai noach have a more extensive obligation of dinim than do Yisrael,[9] and Lieberman offers an elegant yeshiva-style distinction between dinei yisrael and dinei bnai noach to answer the problem. (A similar distinction was offered by Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, in Beit Yitzchak 8, page 89, and reprinted in his Minchat Aviv.) He offhandedly mentions that Rav Menachem Kasher had recently acquired some of his material, and then bemoans the fact that RY D is too involved in the ol hatzibur and is not dedicating himself sufficiently to his Torah study, although he has the potential to become the Gaon HaDor. Lieberman s letter appears below, and a transcription appears in Appendix A. It is most likely that the RY D to whom Lieberman referred was Rav Yaakov David Herzog, Rav Herzog s son, as the context

76 within the letter is dealing with Rav Herzog s family. Rav Yaakov David had already published a scientific/critical edition of Mishnayot Brachot/Peah/Demai in 1945, at the young age of 24, and Lieberman wrote a Foreword to the volume.[10] Rav Yaakov David Herzog was eventually selected as Chief Rabbi of Great Britain in the 1960s, but declined the post due to his ill health.[11] I also entertained the possibility that the RY D to whom Lieberman referred is the Rav, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveichik. While this seems unlikely, it would fit nicely with the comments made by Rabbi Jacob Radin, as quoted by Rav Aaron Rakeffet[12], contrasting the Rav and Lieberman: You know that I have attended classes in both the Seminary and the Yeshiva. I have studied with Professor Lieberman and the Rav. The Professor lectures a few times a week. He hurriedly finishes and rushes back to his research. Outside of his formal lectures, he is barely available to the students. On the other hand, the Rav is never alone. He has never finished a lecture on time. He always goes overtime. He remains in the classroom afterwards to carry on the Talmudic give and take with the students who cannot part from him. Even when he rises to leave, his disciples surround him and the discussion continues This is the basic manifest difference between these two prodigious scholars.[13] On Lieberman s mention of Rav Kasher, this is the page that Lieberman referenced from Tosefet Rishonim:

77 And the page from Rav Kasher s article in Sinai, Volume 18:

78 A number of the rather obscure sources in Rav Kasher s lengthy footnote 2 appear to be taken from Lieberman s Tosefet Rishonim. III The Lieberman Ketuba As is well-known, Lieberman introduced a new clause into the ketuba in the early 1950s in order to alleviate the aguna problem. The clause stipulated that the couple recognizes the authority of the beit din of the Rabbinical Assembly, and that upon dissolution of the marriage, the beit din would be empowered to administer penalties as it sees fit. The aim of these penalties would be to pressure the husband to give a get. In a number of letters from the 1950s (in a file regarding Even HaEzer issues[14]), Rav Herzog mentions that he himself came up with such an idea many years earlier when he

79 was still Chief Rabbi of Ireland. He envisioned a separate document which would empower the beit din of London to administer financial penalties on a husband withholding a get. He mentions that he is unsure of Professor Lieberman came up with this idea himself, or if Lieberman actually got the idea from Rav Herzog.

80 Rabbi Emanuel Rackman wrote that it was widely believed that the Lieberman clause was examined by Rav Herzog, and that he had no objections.[15] This belief is certainly false, as Rav Herzog penned a strong protest to the proposed addition to the ketuba.[16] Rav Herzog s main protest was due to the authority granted to the Conservative beit din. It is possible that the root of this misconception (that Rav Herzog approved of the Lieberman clause) is the fact that Rav Herzog independently envisioned a similar document or agreement, and that he entertained the possibility that Lieberman actually got the idea from him. IV The Epstein Proposal Another fascinating exchange between Rav Herzog and Lieberman is found in Rav Herzog s file dedicated to Reform[[17] and

81 Conservative Jewry[18], and relates to the Rabbinical Assembly s 1957 attempt to resuscitate the Epstein proposal. Rabbi Louis Epstein had proposed, in his 1930 book Hatzaa Lemaan Takanat Agunot, that every husband, at the time of marriage, ought to designate his wife as a shliach to deliver her own get, in order to eliminate the aguna problem in the case of a missing husband or a get-refuser. The proposal was never implemented, in large part due to Orthodox opposition. In May of 1957, the Rabbinical Assembly attempted to resuscitate the Epstein Proposal at their Annual Convention at the Concord Hotel in Kiamesha Lake, New York. However, this attempt to revive the Epstein proposal must be viewed in light of the politics within the Conservative movement at that time. The following is an excerpt from the Presidential Report of Rabbi Aaron Blumenthal at the Rabbinical Assembly Convention[19]:

82

83 Note in particular Rabbi Blumenthal s comments that the Seminary is an Orthodox institution, that its synagogue has separate seating and does not use the Rabbinical Assembly siddur, and that practically every faculty member added to the Talmud faculty in the last 15 to 20 years thinks of himself as an Orthodox Jew and has little regard for the Conservative movement. Given that Lieberman was the de-facto Rabbi of this synagogue, and that Lieberman ensured that the synagogue did not use the Rabbinical Assembly siddur, and that the synagogue maintained separate seating until Lieberman s death[20], it would seem that Rabbi Blumenthal s words were directed primarily at Lieberman, who arrived at the Seminary some 17 years prior. It is against this backdrop that the Rabbinical Assembly

84 passed a Resolution that the Rabbinical Assembly Committee on Jewish Law and Standards review the Epstein proposal and submit a plan for its implementation. The report below from the National Jewish Post and Opinion makes clear that the left wing of Conservative Judaism felt that the Lieberman ketuba did not go far enough in addressing the aguna problem and therefore sought to institute the Epstein proposal. On the other hand, the more traditional wing of Conservative Judaism, led by Rabbi Louis Finkelstein, Chancellor of JTS, wanted the proposal referred to a joint committee made up of JTS faculty and RA members. Rabbi Blumenthal s complaint about the Orthodox character of the Seminary faculty was not just an observation, but also a charge to the RA regarding the Epstein proposal, that they not allow the Seminary faculty to torpedo the proposal. Rabbi Finkelstein s group lost the vote 92-88, in what was, in a sense, a repudiation of Lieberman s Orthodox influence, and a rejection of his ketuba as too Orthodox and not impactful enough.[21] The majority of the RA membership was prepared to head in a more liberal direction.

85 After the passage of the Rabbinical Assembly resolution, the Agudat HaRabbanim turned to Rav Herzog in the letter below, asking him to intervene and prevent this breach of kedushat hamishpacha beyisrael.[22] (It is not clear to me why they termed the Epstein proposal nisuin al tnay, or conditional marriage, which is a different attempted mechanism to prevent aguna situations.)

86 In response to the request of Agudat HaRabbanim, Rav Herzog turned to Lieberman in the letter below, asking him to intervene and prevent the implementation of the proposed nisuin al tnay.[23] (Rav Herzog apparently understood the proposal to be literally one of conditional marriage, and thus referred Lieberman to the book Ain Tnay Benisuin, rather than the book LeDor Acharon, mentioned in the Agudat HaRabbanim letter, which deals with the Epstein proposal.)

87 In response to Rav Herzog s letter, Lieberman sent Rav Herzog the very fascinating letter below. (A transcription of this letter appears in Appendix B.) Lieberman tells Rav Herzog that the Orthodox Rabbis are simply looking for excuses to make machloket, that Rabbi Finkelstein strongly protested the re-introduction of the Epstein proposal (as we noted was reported in the National Jewish Post), and that the President of the Assembly (Rabbi Blumenthal) also denied the claim of the Agudat HaRabbanim. He then says that the entire purpose of his revised ketuba was to bury the possibility of the Epstein proposal! He also mentions that some Orthodox Rabbis have claimed that any wedding which uses the new ketuba is invalid, and the kiddushin are not tofsin. (I have been unable to find any documented source of a Rabbi who made such a claim. I

88 would be indebted to any of the readers who could provide such a source.) Lieberman concludes by assuring Rav Herzog that he would be the first to protest the implementation of the Epstein proposal, and that such a nevala could never happen while he is at the Seminary. Rabbi Blumenthal s denial was in fact reported by the JTA.[24] He said that the Assembly only authorized a committee to re-study the problem. Some points remain unclear to me, as Rabbi Finkelstein s group did indeed lose the vote, and the RA did pass a resolution that the Rabbinical Assembly Committee on Jewish Law and Standards submit a plan for the implementation of the Epstein proposal. I find it hard to understand Rabbi Blumenthal s denial, or how Lieberman could claim that the Orthodox Rabbis were simply seeking machloket, when the RA passed a resolution for implementation (even documented in the RA Proceedings), with the left-wing defeating the traditional wing. (to be continued) Appendix A Letter from Lieberman to Rav Herzog about Torat Ha-Ohel בע ה אור ליום ד פרש לך תש ט לב ב, לידידי הגאון הגדול האמתי מרן רי א הלוי הירצוג. ולכל הנלוים עליו שלום רב והנה. היום קבלתי את יקרת כ ג ואעשה כמובן כבקשתו היו. נזכרתי שאני חייב התנצלות לכ ג על שתיקתי הממושכה

89 כמה סיבות וטעמים לדבר. את ספרו היקר קבלתי בזמנו ונהניתי מאד מחידושיו הנפלאים ובקיאותו המפליאה. לא רציתי להטריד אותו בהערותי שמא יראה נחיצות נמוסית להשיב, והרי מכיר אני את טרדותיו המרובות, ולמה להעמיס עליו עוד משא? כדי שלא יהי מכתבי כשטר הדיוטות ארשום לו כמה דברים קלים שאינם צריכים עיון ומו מ. דברי הר מ בפ א מהל סנהדרין ה ב קשה להגיה, וכנראה שלדעת הר מ אין כלל מצוה למנות דיינים בחו ל, כפי שהבין בו הרמב ן בפרש שופטים, וכן משמע מלשונו של הר מ בסה מ עשין קע ו ומקורו הוא הבבלי במכות ספ א] [25 לפי גירסת המאירי שם : אבל בחו ל אי אתה מושיב בכל פלך ופלך ובכל עיר ועיר. והוא מביא שם את גירסת התלמוד שלנו בשם ויש גורסים ומסיים : ולא נראה כן. ואשר לפסק הר מ בספ ט מה מלכים נראה שהוא חלק בין ב נ ובין ישראל. שהרי ישראל מצווים למנות שופטים כמ ע של שופטים ושוטרים תתן לך, ואפילו יצוייר שנהיה בטוחים שישראל לא יעברו על שום עברה ג כ מצוה למנות שופטים. ברם ב נ מחוייב למנות שופטים רק מפני שהוא מצווה על הדינין, כלומר שישגיח שלא יעברו על מצות ב נ. ואם לא מנה שופטים בפלך ועבר אחד מהם עברה ולא דנו אותו כלם חייבים מיתה )שהרי כל אחד ראוי לדון יחידי(, אבל כ ז שלא עברו עברה אינם חייבים מיתה על מינוי דיינים אפילו לשיטת הר מ [26]. ועיין ביד רמה נו ע ב וברש י ד ה כך נצטוו, ומלשונו של הרמ ה משמע הוזהרו נח שבני בגמרא מפורש לפניו היה שכן מחמת ושפטו. בענין גר העמלקי )דף נ ו( עיין מ ש החיד א ביעיר אוזן, עין זוכר מערכת ג אות א דברים מחוכמים מאד. ]בעני[ן מכת מרדות )צ ט( עיין בשו ת ]הר[שב ש סי תר י וציינתי לו בתוספת ראשונים ח ב צד ) 170 עכשיו ראיתי שידידנו הרב כשר קנה במשיכה מספרי שם את כל החומר ופרסמם בסיני (. כפי שאמרתי לא ארבה בדברים שצריכים לינה בעומקה של הלכה, ואני מקוה שנוכל לדבר ע ז אי ה פה אל פה. על כמה דברים שנתחדשו אצל כ ג באופן פרטי שמענו מאורחים וידידים היורדים מהתם להכא ושמחנו מאד לשמוע שכלתו הכבודה ב ה נתרפאה לגמרי. מצטער אני מאד שרי ד] [27 שלנו נושא בעול הצבור ואינו מתפנה לגמרי לעולה של תורה. הרי עדיין הוא צעיר ויכול להיות לגאון הדור. ומדי דברי בו נזכרתי ששאל אותי מקום הירושלמי : התלמיד תוך ד אמות ברם הרב אפילו חוץ לד אמות והשבתי לו שירושלמי כזה אין לפנינו. ואעפ י שכן הוא האמת בכ ז שכחתי באותה שעה שכן

90 מביא הריטב א בסוכה כ ח בשם הירושלמי. אצלנו אין כל חדש. אנו יושבים ומצפים לגאולה שלמה, ייתי ונחמיניה. בפ ש מבית לבית הנני מעריצו ומוקירו וידידו הנאמן שאול ליברמן הייתי מכיר טובה מאד לרבנית שתחי אם תודיע לנו בפרוטרוט על חיימקה שיחי ומשפחתו ועל רי ד אהובנו [28]. Appendix B Letter from Lieberman to Rav Herzog about the Epstein Proposal בעה י יום ה פרש מטות תשי ז לכבוד ידידינו הגאון הגדול האמיתי מרן הרי א הלוי הירצוג הרב הראשי לא י ברכה ושלום רב. יקרת כ ג מי תמוז הועברה אלי לכרם מרתה],[29 ומאד מאד התפלאתי שכ ג האמין לדיבת הרבנים כאן. אמנם בכנסיית תנאי בשאלת מחדש עיון על דברו השמרנים הרבנים בקידושין, אבל ד ר פינקלשטיין יצא בכל תוקף נגד חידוש העיון. ונשיא הכנסיה הנ ל הכחיש בעצמו את דיבת הרבנים. אבל הללו מחפשים רק אמתלאות למחלוקת. כל עניין הכתובה היה כדי לקבור לגמרי את שאלת התנאי. הסברתי להם שאם ליחיד אפשר פעם לחשוב ע ז הרי לרבים אין הדבר בא כלל בחשבון שהתנאי יעשה ע פ דין, וישתקע הדבר ולא יעלה שוב על הפרק. וכולם הסכימו ל]י[. עכשיו יש מהם שבאים בטענות ואומרים : הרי הרבנים הארתודוכסים טוענין שאף הכתובה נעשתה שלא כדין, ויש מהם )כלומר מהרבנים הארתודוקסים( שאמרו שהמתחתן בכתובה החדשה אין הקידושין תופסין, והאשה מותרת בלי גט )ממש לא יאומן כי יסופר! אבל לצערי נאמרו הדברים(, א כ הרי מוטב לעשות תנאי בקידושין, ולהפטר מכל שאלת העגונה בבת אחת. והנני מבטיח את כב ג שאין לשמועה שום יסוד, אחרת הייתי אני בין הראשונים למחות, וכל זמן שאני בסמינר לא יתכן שיעשו נבלה כזו. בפ ש ובברכה לכל המשפ]חה[ בהערצה ובידידות שאול ]ליברמן[ [1] See here. [2] See here. [3] A short one-page summary of the kuntres appears in R Zorach Warhaftig s Chuka Leyisrael, page 236. However, R Warhaftig neglects to mention that Rav Herzog advocated only giyus chelki.

91 [4] See here. [5] Every name on the telegram is relatively well known, except for Rothenberg. I assume this is Rav Moshe Rothenberg, founder of Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin of Detroit. See Toldot Anshei Shem page 126, here. [6] See here. [7] For the following sections related to Lieberman, I made extensive use of Dr. Shapiro s Saul Lieberman and the Orthodox. [8] See here. [9] Here in Yeriot Ha-Ohel 1. [10] See here. Interestingly, Lieberman signed the Foreword as Saul Lieberman, Dean, Harry Fischel Institute, Jerusalem, even though Lieberman had been teaching in JTS for five years already. (In the Foreword, he notes that the publication of the volume coincided with Harry Fischel s 80th birthday, in 1945.) In fact, Lieberman s name appeared atop the Harry Fischel Institute s stationery as late as 1949 (can be seen in Rav Herzog s file on Machon Harry Fischel.) It would appear that Lieberman continued to serve in some capacity as Dean of the Harry Fischel Institute even after he left Israel to come to America. Incredibly, he held one foot in each world simultaneously, as Dean of the Harry Fischel Institute and Professor in JTS, a fact that has heretofore eluded his biographers. My good friend Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin reports in the name of Mr. Carmi Schwartz, Executive Vice President of the Council of Jewish Federations, that Lieberman willed most of his considerable life savings to the Harry Fischel Institute after his death, and not to JTS. [11] See here. [12] Mentor of Generations, page 119. [13] For more on the Rav and Lieberman, see Rav Rakeffet s A Note on R. Saul Lieberman and the Rav, in Tradition, Winter Also noteworthy is the following story that appears in Rav Hershel Schachter s Mipninei Ha-rav:

92 The head of the Seminary who gave the shiur with which the Rav disagreed so vehemently is none other than Lieberman. Warren s visit to the Seminary was covered on the front page of the New York Times (September 14, 1957.) (For a humorous account of how Lieberman sipped tea through a sugar cube that weekend in the presence of former president Harry Truman, see The Rabbi as Symbolic Exemplar by Jack Bloom, page 37.) Here is the New York Times account of Lieberman s shiur:

93 A similar account of the shiur appears in the Sentinel (September 26, 1957)

94 Regarding Lieberman s suggestion that the principle of Ain Adam Meisim Atzmo Rasha is predicated on the presumption of teshuva, there appears to be another difficulty, in addition to that raised by the Rav. The gemara in Makot 13b states: חייבי מיתות ב ד אינו בכלל מלקות ארבעים שאם עשו תשובה אין ב ד של מטה מוחלין להן The gemara states explicitly that teshuva is not efficacious in absolving a sinner of capital punishment, which would seem to contradict Professor Lieberman s thesis. My good friend Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin has offered the following original suggestion to resolve the problem. Professor Lieberman might have believed that the gemara in Makot which states that teshuva does not absolve capital punishment is referring

95 to after gmar din, when the sinner has already been tried and sentenced. At that point, teshuva is no longer effectual. However, the principle of Ain Adam Meisim Atzmo Rasha applies before trial and sentencing, and teshuva would absolve a sinner before sentencing. This reading of the gemara in Makot is certainly plausible, although it does run contrary to the reading of the Noda B Yehuda (Orach Chaim 34, s.v. ela), who assumes that the gemara is referring to before gmar din as well. Additionally, it would seem difficult to assume that a confession is indicative of teshuva if a sinner is aware that he can absolve himself of punishment by simply admitting his guilt in beit din. However, this approach would explain why the Rav raised a difficulty based on the words of the Raavad, and not the gemara in Makot, as the gemara in Makot is not a conclusive proof. [14] See here. [15] Conflict and Consensus in Jewish Political Life, page 120, also cited in Saul Lieberman: the Man and his Work, page 45. My thanks to my good friend Dr. Josh Lovinger for bringing this to my attention. [16] Techuka leyisrael al pi Torah, volume 3 page 210. [17] The correspondence in that file also shows the effort that Rav Herzog expended in an attempt to prevent the Reform movement from gaining any foothold whatsoever in Israel. [18] See here. [19] Proceedings of the Rabbinical Assembly of America 21, 57th Annual Convention (1957), pages [20] See here. [21] National Jewish Post and Opinion, June 14, [22] See also Hapardes, Tamuz, 1957 for details of the protest arranged by Agudat HaRabbanim. [23] This letter also appears in Saul Lieberman and the Orthodox, Hebrew section, page 6. [24] See here. [25] Makot 7a [26] This would also answer the (similar) question of the Gvurot Ari in Makot 7a, s.v. UveChu l. [27] As mentioned, I believe that this refers to Rav Yaakov David Herzog. [28] Future president of Israel, Chaim Herzog, and Rav Yaakov David Herzog.

96 [29] Martha s Vineyard. Tracing the History Shavuos Night Learning of Tracing the History of Shavuos Night Learning By Eliezer Brodt This article will trace some of the earliest sources for the Minhag observed by many to stay up learning Torah throughout the entire night of Shavuos.[1] At the outset I would like to note that the focus of this article will be not be about the exact seder that was learned i.e. Tikun Lel Shavuos.[2] Different versions of this article originally appeared in the Kulmos Supplement of Mishpacha in 2014 and then in English in I returned to all this in my doctorate Halachic Commentaries to the Shulchan Aruch on Orach Chayim from Ashkenaz and Poland in the Seventeenth Century.[3] This post contains important additions to some of the earlier versions. One day I hope to update it properly. That the minhag of staying up on Shavuos night to learn was observed widely in recent history is very clear. For example, the author of a nineteenth-century Lithuanian memoir describes how her brothers would stay up the entire night.[4] In a memoir about Yeshivas Lomza, the author writes in passing after staying up the whole night, the whole yeshiva would take part in a milchig kiddush at the Rosh Yeshiva s house. [5] Chaim Grade writes: On the First night of Shavuoth, the lamps in the Beth Medrash and the candelabra were still lit well past midnight. The benches were packed with men from the courtyard and from the neighboring streets who, as the custom on this night, came to study until dawn. [6] Grade s books are fiction, but his descriptions are based on life in Vilna. A bochur describing Shavous in the Mir to his parents in 1938, writes in passing that the bnei hayeshiva had stayed up the whole night learning.[7]

97 Rav Chaim Stein, Rosh Yeshivah of Telz wrote an incredible World War II diary chronicling his great Mesiras Nefesh for whatever mitzvos he was able to do during that time. He also describes staying up the entire night learning.[8] Earliest sources But what are the earliest sources for this practice? It is not mentioned by either R. Yosef Caro or the Rama in Shulchan Aruch s discussion of the halachos of Shavuos. One of the earliest printed sources for this custom is a work entitled Sefer Ha-Mussar, authored by Rav Yehudah Kalatz and first printed in 1537, which states that there was a custom to stay up throughout both nights of Shavuos to learn various parts of Tanach and Kabbalah.[9] Today we know that the prior written source for this piece is Rav Dovid ben Rav Yehudah Hachassid. [10] This piece is also printed in the Mateh Moshe of Rav Moshe Meis (1591) without citing its source.[11] In 1558, the Zohar was printed for the first time, and in it we find that righteous ones would learn Torah during the entire night of Shavuos. [12] These words of the Zohar are already quoted in two early and important collections of material culled from the Zohar, the Mareh Cohen of Rav Yisachar Katz,[13] first printed in 1588 and in the Yesh Sachir of Rav Yisachar M Karmintz,[14] first printed in It is also brought down in important works such as Rav Moshe Makir s classic Seder HaYom [first printed in 1599],[15] Tikunei Shabbos (1613),[16] Tur Barekes (1650),[17] Heichal Hakodesh (1653)[18] and Sha arei Tzion (1662).[19] Who followed this minhag in earlier times? From the Zohar it appears that this practice is limited to yechidei segulah, select spiritually exalted individuals. This is also how it appears that some sources that quote this Zohar, such as the Heichal Hakodesh, Magen Avraham,[20] Eliyah Rabba[21] and Me orei Or,[22] understood it. A number of gedolei Torah themselves wrote of having stayed up learning the whole night of Shavuos. In his Sefer Chizyonos, R Chaim Vital writes that he stayed up the whole night of Shavuos learning with the Arizal.[23] The Chida writes in the account of his travels[24] and in his autobiographical cheshbon hanefesh of having done so,[25] as

98 does the Aderes.[26] But other sources seem to have understood that this is a custom to be followed by all. Rav Moshe Makir in his Seder HaYom writes so clearly, and indeed, in a letter he wrote circa 1610 to Poland, Rav Shlumiel of Tzefas describes how everyone stayed up to learn on Shavuos night in keeping with the Seder HaYom.[27] The Shelah Hakadosh also describes how everyone stayed up learning, as did Rav Moshe Prague in a letter written in 1650 describing the scene in Yerushalayim. [28] Thus, we see that what was originally a minhag only for the very learned evolved in a few decades into a practice observed by the broad masses. One may conjecture that the spread of the minhag occurred due to the fact that some of the seforim that mentioned it were very popular and widely read. The promise of the Arizal Another possible catalyst for the popular adoption of this minhag was the promise of the Arizal that he who stays up the whole night learning will survive the year and not suffer any harm during the entire year. This guarantee first appeared in a work called Shulchan Aruch Shel Ha-Arizal printed in 1650,[29] and was later reprinted in numerous widely-read works such as Sha arei Tzion and Sefer Zechirah.[30] Relatedly, R. Yosef Kapach, discussing the observance of this minhag in Teiman, writes that this night is a special time during which the gates of Heaven are open for the acceptance of tefillos. He cites a legend of a woman who was looking outside a window and she asked for her head to be made bigger. When that occurred, she could not get her head back inside through the window. It thus became necessary to feed her for the duration of the Yom Tov by means of a ladder, and it was only after Yom Tov, when the window could be broken, that she was finally extricated.[30] The Visit of the Magid on Shavous night Yet another reason this minhag may have become so widespread relates to the Maggid, the Heavenly emissary that would regularly visit the Beis Yosef to teach him Torah. The Shelah Hakadosh quotes from a lengthy letter that Rav Shlomo Alkabetz wrote describing the events of one particular Shavuos night in Tzefas.[32]

99 Rav Shlomo Alkabetz writes that he and Rav Yosef Caro along with some others in their circle decided to stay up the whole night of Shavuos learning a specific seder limud from Tanach and Mishnayos. At about midnight, a voice was heard emanating from the throat of Rav Yosef Caro praising them for staying up to learn Torah and advising them that it would be even more praiseworthy if they were to do so with a minyan. And, indeed, the next night, the scene was repeated, this time with a minyan present. This letter was first printed in 1646 in the introduction to the first edition of the Magid Meisharim, which records the teachings that the Magid conveyed through the Beis Yosef. It was then reprinted by the Shelah Hakadosh in 1648[33] and in the very popular and somewhat controversial anonymous work Chemdas Yomim in [34]These last two sources contributed to widespread knowledge of the story of the Magid of the Beis Yosef, which, in turn, enabled the minhag of learning throughout Shavuos night to become even more popular. Why doesn t Rav Yosef Caro mention this minhag? In order to consider some possible reasons for the Rav Yosef Caro s omission of this minhag from both his Shulchan Aruch and his commentary on the Tur, despite the fact that he was personally told by the Magid about the great importance of remaining awake throughout Shavuos night to learn Torah, it is important to first discuss some issues related to the Magid Meisharim. Many Gedolim merited visits from Magidim who taught them secrets of Torah, but the most famous person to have been so visited was Rav Yosef Caro. Magid Meisharim, the work that emerged from those visits, is comprised mostly of Kabbalistic teachings, although there is some Halachic discussion there as well. Was that work intended only for Rav Yosef Caro or for the general Jewish populace as well? When there is a contradiction between this work and the Shulchan Aruch, according to which of these works are we to rule? From the fact that numerous Poskim quote from the Magid Meisharim in their halachic works, it would seem that that at least some of the material was intended for everyone. One famous example concerns eating meat on Rosh Hashanah, which the Magid told Rav Yosef Caro not to do.[35] The Magen Avraham and other poskim bring this down, implying that they felt the

100 halachic material in this work is applicable to the masses.[36] Many other examples this are collected in a series of articles written by Rav Klieres in the Torah journal Tzefunot.[37] However, the Munkatcher Rebbe held that the Magid Meisharim was intended for Rav Yosef Caro alone.[38] A careful examination of the sefer shows that it also contains many hanhagos, practices that are not mandated by Halacha per se, but are recommended for a righteous person to adopt. Some feel that these pieces were meant for the masses, whereas others are of the opinion that these too were meant only for Rav Yosef Caro to follow. [39] Staying up on Shavuos night could be an example of such an hanhaga.[40] There is no halachic obligation to do so, but, as we have seen, it was widely practiced by righteous people, and sometimes the masses adopt such practices. However, Rav Yaakov Emden brings from his father, the Chacham Tzvi, that the Magid Meisharim did not influence his halachic rulings in any way.[41] In his siddur, Rav Yaakov Emden writes that it is well-known that the Beis Yosef and Rav Shlomo Alkabetz stayed up Shavuos night and were visited by the voice of the Magid, but that this does not obligate the masses to follow suit.[42] Based on the above, it becomes understandable why R. Yosef Caro did not cite the custom to stay up on Shavuos night in his halachic works despite knowing very well its importance from his Shavuos night experience with the Magid. As important a practice as it is, in his opinion it was not intended for the broader community. The principle of Lo BaShamayim Hi and the Magid In truth, there may well be more to the story of why Rav Yosef Caro did not bring this custom down in his halachic works. The Gemarah in Bava Metzia (59b) sets forth is the principle of Lo BaShamayim Hi, meaning that the halachic process is not influenced by other-worldly revelations such as a Heavenly voice telling us what to do, or the like.[43] Rav Akiva Yosef Schlesinger uses this axiom to explain why we do not find Rav Yosef Caro bringing anything he learned from the Magid in his Beis Yosef or Shulchan Aruch. [44] This general approach is found by numerous Achronim to dismiss material found in such heavenly works to reach halachic conclusions. To list some:

101 R. Alexander Moshe Lapidus,[45] R. Aron Mi-Pinsk,[46] R Yitzchack Issac Chaver,[47] and R. Yaakov Emden.[48] However, the question remains as to why the principle Lo BaShamayim Hi did not prevent various poskim from citing works like that of the Magid in halachic discussions. For example, numerous poskim quote rulings from the Sh ailos v Teshuvos Min Hashamayim, in which a rishon collected the responses he received from Heaven in his dreams to questions he had posed before going to sleep.[49] One possible explanation as to why some poskim cite these works is based on an idea found in the work Seder Mishnah by Rav Zev Wolf Boskovitz.[50] Rav Boskovitz writes that one can rely on such works when their conclusions are not contradicted by anything in Shas. Other achronim, however, hold that the principle of Lo BaShamayim Hi is applicable under all circumstances and thus, we are not to rely on works like the Magid Meisharim and Sh ailos v Teshuvos Min Hashamayim for practical guidance. Perhaps, then, Rav Yosef Caro held a similar position as these achronim and for this reason never quotes the Magid in his halachic works. The Magen Avraham and the Shavuos night minhag One final point: According to most of the early sources for this Minhag, it is based on Kabbala and was originally intended only for the most learned of the community, but eventually became the minhag of the masses too. However, it is interesting that the Magan Avraham, after quoting the Zohar as the earliest source for this minhag, gives his own reason for it. He writes, based on the Midrash, that at Har Sinai, the Jews slept during the night before the giving of the Torah, and Hashem had to awaken them. As a form of teshuvah for our ancestors lack of zeal and appreciation for the Torah at Har Sinai, we stay up the entire night learning. [51]The Magen Avraham thus turned a Kabbalastically based custom into one with a basis in the revealed Torah. Moreover, while most of the sources deal with the special seder of learning one is supposed to follow on Shavuos night, the Magan Avraham does not mention such a seder limud, choosing instead to address various halachic questions that arise for those who stay awake through the night, such as the

102 halachos relating to Netilas Yadyim, Birchas Hatorah, the bracha on the Talis and Kriyas Shema Al Hamitah, thereby further giving a halachic focus to this Kabbalistically rooted minhag. In so doing, the Magen Avraham, a preeminent work on Orach Chaim, may have helped ensure the widespread adoption of the minhag of learning throughout Shavuos night. [1] There are many collections of material on this subject. The most in depth treatment is that of R. Binyomin Hamberger, Shorshei Minhag Ashkenaz, 3, pp For additional useful material see : Yosef Yahlom, Alei Eyin, pp ; R Mordechai Spielman, Tiferes Tzvi, pp ; Meir Bar-Ilan, Mechkarei Hachag 8 (1997), pp ; Moshe Chalamish, HaKabbalah Betefilah Uminhag, pp ; R Yakov Hillel, Shut Shorshei Hayam, 2:12; Pardes Eliezer, pp ; Moadim L simcha 6, pp ; Rabbi Yitzchak Tessler, P ninei Minhag, pp See also Herman Pollack, Jewish Folkways in Germanic Lands ( ), pp For a very interesting article connecting this minhag to the availability of coffeesee Elliott Horowitz, Coffee, Coffeehouses, and the Nocturnal Rituals of Early Modern Jewry, AJS Review 14:1 (Spring 1989), pp and Assaf Nabarro, Tikkun from Lurianic Kabbalah to Popular Culture, PhD dissertation, Ben Gurion University 2006, pp. 87. [2] For this see the sources in note one. See also most recently this article from Eli Stern. [3] Eliezer Brodt, Halachic Commentaries to the Shulchan Aruch on Orach Chayim from Ashkenaz and Poland in the Seventeenth Century, PhD, Bar Ian University) July 2015, pp [4] Pauline Wengeroff, Memoirs of a Grandmother, 2010, p.150. [5] See Pirkei Zichronos, (2004), p. 359 [6] Rabbis and Wives, p [7] Letters from the Mir, p. 145 [8] Mi-Telz Ad Telz, p.212, 362. [9] Sefer Hamusar, p. 59a. For information about this work see the introduction to the facsimile edition printed in Jerusalem [10] Or Zarua, p. 233, first printed in its entirety from manuscript in See Chalamish (above, note 1), pp ; Eliezer Brodt, Halachic Commentaries to the Shulchan Aruch on Orach Chayim from Ashkenaz and Poland in the Seventeenth Century, pp. 355, fn. 117.

103 [11] Mateh Moshe 3:694. [12] Zohar, Emor p. 88a [13] Mareh Cohen, p. 117, 280. On this work see Zev Gries, Safrut Hanhaghot, pp , [14] Yesh Sachir, p. 33b. [15] Seder HaYom, p [16] About this work see Eliezer Brodt, Halachic Commentaries to the Shulchan Aruch on Orach Chayim from Ashkenaz and Poland in the Seventeenth Century, PhD dissertation, Bar Ian University, pp [17] Siman 494. [18] Heichal Hakodesh, p. 60a. [19] About this work see the appendix to this earlier post here. [20] Magen Avraham, 494: introduction. [21] Ibid. [22] Od LaMoed, p. 33a. [23] Sefer Chizyonos, 4:17 (end). [24] Ma agel Tov, p. 66, 154. See my article in Yeshurun 26 (2012), pp for more about this work. [25] Sefer HaChida, 2, pp. 534, 538,539,540, 544. [26] See his Nefesh Dovid, p. 129 [printed in the back of Seder Eliyhau]. In his work Har Hamoriah, he describes a time when he was ill on Erev Shavuos but that evening felt well enough to stay up and learn [first printed in Shnos Dor Vedor, 1. p.125 and then in Har Hamoriah, p. 59]. [27] First printed by Simcha Assaf, Kovetz Al Yad 3, p [28] Masos Eretz Yisroel, p.300. [29] See Eliezer Brodt, Halachic Commentaries to the Shulchan Aruch on Orach Chayim from Ashkenaz and Poland in the Seventeenth Century, PhD dissertation, Bar Ian University, pp [30] Sefer Zechirah, p On this work, see my Likutei Eliezer, pp [31] Halichos Teiman, p. 32 [32] Shelah, Shavuos, pp. 29b-30a. About this letter see: Rabbi Leopold Greenwald, Harav R Yosef Caro Uz mano, pp ; Tzvi Werblowsky, Joseph Karo, Lawyer and Mystic, pp , ; A. Ya ari, Ta alumot Sefer, p. 106; Y. Tishbi, Chikrei Kabalah UShlucoseha, 2, pp ; Dovid Tamar, Mechkarim Betoldot Hayehudim B Eretz Yisroel, pp ; R Blau, Kulmos, 100 (2011), p.14,29. [33] See Chalamish (above note 1), p. 599.

104 [34] On this work, see my Likutei Eliezer, p. 2. [35-36]] On this subject see my Likutei Eliezer, pp For a new approach to all this see most recently Eliezer Brodt, The Relationship of the Magen Avraham to the Work Magid Meisharim, Yeshurun 35 (2016), pp Also see Eliezer Brodt, Halachic Commentaries to the Shulchan Aruch on Orach Chayim from Ashkenaz and Poland in the Seventeenth Century, PhD dissertation, Bar Ian University, pp [37] Tzefunot 6 (1990), pp ; 8 (1990), pp ; 9 (1991), pp [38] Nimukei Orach Chaim, 426:1. [39] See Meir Benayahu, Yosef Bechiri, pp ; Tzvi Werblowsky, Joseph Karo, Lawyer and Mystic. See also Likutei Eliezer, pp [40] This is not found in the Magid Meisharim that we have today. But the Chida has already written that the sefer that is extant today is only a small part of the original work. [41] Torat Hakanaot, p. 48a. [42] Siddur Rav Yaakov Emden, 2, p [43] For a very useful summary of material about this, see Encyclopedia Talmudis, 33, pp M. Goldstein, The Assistance of Celestial Bodies in Halachic Decisions, (heb.), PhD dissertation, Bar Ilan University [44] Beis Yosef Hachadash, p [45] Toras HaGaon R Alexander Moshe, p [46] Tosfos Aron, p. 42a. [47] Magan Vtzinah, pp. 27b-28a. [48] Torat Hakanot, p. 48a. [49] About this work, see Rav Aron Marcus and Rav Reuven Margolios introductions to their respective editions of Sh ailos v Teshuvos Min Hashamayim. See also E. Kanarfogel, For its not in Heaven: Dreams as a Determinant of Jewish Law and Practice in Northern Europe During the High Middle Ages, Studies in Medieval Jewish Intellectual and Social History (2012) pp ; Unpublished lecture of Pinchas Roth, Questions and Answers from Heaven: Halakhic Diversity in a Medieval Community ; Pinchas Roth, Responsa from Heaven: Fragments of a New Manuscript of She elot u-teshuvot min ha-shamayim from Gerona, Materia Giudaica ( ) pp ; Likutei Eliezer, pp [50] Seder Mishnah, Madah, pp

105 [51] See the Radal s notes to Pirkei D Rabi Eliezer, Perek 41: Augsburg and its Printers Augsburg and its Printers: Printer of the Tur in Ashkenaz: Fragments Censored at the Beinecke s Augsburg Mahzor By Chaim Meiselman Chaim Meiselman catalogs rare books for the Joseph Meyerhoff Collection, originally at Baltimore Hebrew Institute, now at Towson University. He is a bibliophile and intermittently a book dealer. This is his first contribution to the Seforim Blog. Last summer, I was at Yale University for a conference. Those who have spent time at Yale University will know that their libraries are separated by major subject, and therefore are situated in different buildings. While I was spending a good amount of the time at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library for material covering manuscripts, I was able to use downtime for perusing their Rare Book Collection. This library is a breathtaking edifice erected for books. For those who haven t had the opportunity to visit it, I highly recommend going, even for a non-research purpose. The reason why I recommend it is because one can see a modern-day example of something which used to be more common during the previous centuries a temple dedicated to literary craft. As is with many commercial buildings built during the last century, libraries have evolved into storage containers of some kind; this building is built exhibiting manuscripts and books in rich light. Six of the seven stories of volumes are visible from the balcony, where they exhibit items and one can tour the inside. Here is a picture of the vantage from the inside.

106 Among their collection of hebrew books is a copy of the very rare imprint of the Machzor ke-seder ha-ashkenazim, the volume of Machzor printed in Augsburg in 1536 by Haim ha-mehokek b. David Shahor (see here). This is a rare and revolutionary title for a number of reasons, some of which I ll write here. While I own a facsimile of the Shahor volume, I ve never before held it in hand. It is about the size of a large size Mechon Yerushalayim Tur, thinner though. The pages were darkened by light exposure but the type was still fresh. More below on his imprint of Tefillos. The first question (which is relevent to what discovery i will share here) is who is Haim Shahor. Hayyim b. David Shahor was among the earliest printers of Hebrew books north of the Alps; born in the late 15th century, likely in Ashkenaz, he was involved earlier in Hebrew print than Bomberg and Giustiani, and earlier than Bak, Prosstitz, and Jaffe in Ashkenaz. He is documented as having printed in tiny hamlets earlier than 1535 Heddernheim, Oels (Schliesen), yet more famously Augsburg. Augsburg was where Shahor printed his Siddur, his Machzor, and his Turim. Comparably few copies were created; for every Augsburg volume, Moritz Steinschneider (CLHB) writes fol. Rara or ed. Rara. Libraries which contain volumes of Hebrew Incunabula often don t contain a print of Shahor, certainly not an Augsburg volume they are extremely scarce. There have been claims that Shahor may have been a Christian printer disguising himself as a Jew. These are very unlikely, and probably aren t true; in one of the Augsburg printings, a

107 long Tefillah and colophon puts this claim in doubt. I am pasting copies of the one scanned on Hebrewbooks.org. However, this scan is extremely low resolution, even for HB. If there is a high resolution scan done of the volume, one will be able to see the precise and sharp magnificence of this font, almost like that of Ketav Ashurit. This is an adaptation of the Ashkenazic script from manuscripts centuries older, and it carries that appearance somewhat.

108 As I see it, it is highly unlikely that this was a Christian family printing Yosef b. Yakar writes to his brother in law, Ya akov b. Baruch that he has emended the printing format of the Luach ha-simanim (in which the Mare h ha-mekomot are brief and added are a longer Luach preceding each of the Seder ha-

109 Turim). Many of the examples of the Luach Gadol in this Tur no longer exist, making full examples of these even more rare but they were written in heavy Rashi script and if they aren t the first tables of contents in printed Hebrew Books, they are almost certainly are the most lengthy and encompassing. Briefly referenced is a disagreement (regarding this format) with Avraham of Prague, who is a noted editor on the other Augsburg volumes (and selected other Shahor printings). I will quote a passage from this here: אמנם ראה ידידי כי לא שמעתי לקולך להדפיס בספר הזה כל אותם ההגהות הארוכים אשר חידש בהם הרב הנ ל וכמעט אומר שרוב ההוגותיו מכלכלים )מקלקלים( על התלמידים בו וכן הסכימו עמי. Below, he details exactly what the differences were, and he immediately offers words of thanks for being able to put out this edition, the first Tur to be printed in Ashkenaz, but one which is without defects : שהחיינו וקיימנו לזאת. על כל שבח תהלה והוראה אשר אין בו מאומה רעה. להשלים הטורים ארבעה. השעה. It is clear that the novelty of the printed Turim is paramount in the thought of the printers, however what is mentioned and repeated is כדי שלא יקלקלו התלמידים, לחדד התלמידים, and such scripts on the idea of studying the Tur and teaching it to students. This theme isn t one of Christian influence, especially being that there already was a debate on the proper methods of studying Halacha raging at the time this language feeds to this writing. Although it was at this time of a smaller scale (because of the not-yet published Bet Yosef and Shulchan Arukh and the later writings on the subject of Rama, Maharal, Maharshal, and R. Yoel Sirkis), the statement completing the enormous printing process was like the one above is directly showing a Rabbinic influence, not a Christian one. After the letter of Yosef b. Yakar, Shahor writes a Shevach Tehilla for finishing the volume. He repeats this theme: בחור תראה הן תשתאה ספר נאה בהדורים רבה הון מה לך תתהמה פן יהיו מה הד נמכרים ישמח יסגא כל בם הוגה כי ממשגה הם נשמרים קונים מהם יהגו בהם הם ובניהם עד דוד דודים As before, I see it that this is related to the theme of the debate of the proper methods to learn Halacha, and not to neglect the study of Gemara (as it had been in Ashkenaz at the time, according to some accounts.)

110 Another reason it is highly doubtful that Shahor was a cryptochristian was that his granddaughter married the printer Kalonymus Jaffe, famously as printer (including the printing of the Shas and the Turim) in Lublin. He was the first cousin to R. Mordechai Yaffe, known as the Ba al ha-levush; his father Mordechai printed the first copies of the Levushim. This is another hint that Shahor was from a learned Jewish background, not that of a Christian printer. As is documented, from Shahor s family descended generations of printers in Prague, Krakow, and other centers of printing in Central Europe. See Marvin J. Heller, Studies in the Making of the Early Hebrew Book, pg In the entry for the Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics (Brill, 2013) title Hebrew Printing by Brad Sabin-Hill, it is recorded that Shahor was working among presses owned by Christian humanists; this is likely, in the light of what I will record below. Leaf 7, the opening leaf of the text of the Tur, is supposedly illustrated by Hans Holbein the Younger ( ), an important late-renaissance artist originally from Augsburg. I m not certain where this information is from. Here is the catalog entry from the Selected Catalog of the Valmadonna Trust Selections, which sold at Kestenbaum s on November 9th.

111 Back to the Mahzor. Among the differences this Mahzor has with the other editions, one that should be noticeable (as relating to the editor and printer) is the self-censorship of a Piyyut. For the Yom Kippur Piyyutim recited during Shacharit, a Piyyut is supplicated in after אדיר אדירנו. Even though in the Mahzor it is recorded after ובכן יתקדש ועל מכונך והיכלך, it follows the heading האדיר, and opens another acrostic lines into the Piyyut מי אדיר אפסיך perhaps this is because of the re-use of the text block for the repeating paragraphs of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur davening. This is how it appears:

112 For the Piyyut headed by האדיר, an acrostic begins using Jer. 10:7, חכמי הגויים - כי בכל : כי לך יאתה, מי לא ייראך מלך הגויים מאין כמוך, מלכותם - ובכל. In that Piyyut, there is a portion which was censored in virtually every text. However, the Augsburg Mahzor self-censors three blocks, which would ve likely been offensive in the eyes of the Church. Although it is possible that he did it out of consideration not to offend the Humanists who had granted him the rights to print (if it is true that this was the case for this printing), it is entirely plausible that he wanted the text to be supplemented by a scribe and didn t want the internal work of a censor to be involved (both at the time of print and the future viewers). This is how they look:

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115 Back to the copy at Yale. In the copy I was holding, I saw that it was inscribed with the missing pieces. There was a scribe who wrote in the margins, crossed through printing mistakes, and marked pieces which would be relevant to a Shaliach Tsibbur. Examples of בניגון, קהל, פזמון, and a type of cantillation abound in the volume by his hand. At the end, he signs his name as Shelomoh b. Ya akov halevi. The script appears to me to be from the time the volume was printed. It utilizes flourishes and specific criteria of script that I recognize from the hands of (and from the time of) R. Yoel Sirkis, R. David Halevi (Ta z), and other handwriting of the era. The themes of the Piyyutim with the inscription additions are now complete, as you can see with my writing below. The paragraphs, especially the second one, are very harsh in their attack. First, I will paste photos of the pages:

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117 The writing has faded, and is difficult to make out in some areas. However, I transcribed what was there. Edited to add: Marc Shapiro pointed out that variants of these paragraphs are in the Goldschmidt Mahzor. I will paste here the my transcription of the written paragraphs in text and Goldschmidt (where he differs strongly) in bold type. Paragraph one: הגוים אפס ותהו נגדך חשובים : בחוניך בדודים לעם לא נחשבים : הגוים גדילים מעשיהו תעתוע והבלים דבקיך בדולים מסגרי מסגודי לעץ בולים : הגוים הכין פסל מבקשים חרשים : ותיקיך בשהכים והערב ]ייחודיך ]פורשים : הגוים זהבם לאפדת מסכה מכינים : חרדי דבריך לעבדיך ליראה מוכנים : הגוים שועגים טוענים בכתף יתר כליתם : ידועיך כורעים לך בפיקוק חליותם : הגוים כסף[ מצפים עץ מסגריהם[ פסלם לקחיך בחביון עזך ישימו כסלם : בגוים מכנים קדשתך לעול הזימה : נשואיך משקצים ]ייחוס ע]רוה וזמה אשת הזמה : הגוים סמל תמונת נאלח מאליהים : עמך מעידים אדנותך אלהי האלהים : הגוים פגר מובס בחנות פחזות תכליתם צבאך קדוש אתה יושב תהלותם : הגוים קוראים ללא מושיע ומוע יל רעך נשענים בך מלמד להועיל : הגוים שקר נכסם לא אמון תמימיך אומן אמונתיך )בועד)ם