Sefer Mitzvot Gadol by Rabbi Moshe of Coucy. Venice, [1522], Daniel Bomberg Press, one volume. Third edition. Books printed in the early years of the 16th century have a special status – post-incunabula.
Special Copy: Thousands of glosses in antiquated rabbinical handwriting from the first third of the 16th century decorate the margins around the printed text. All the glosses are in a legible hand and characteristic of the period. Almost all of the glosses are written in the same hand; only a few were written by others. Many of the glosses have yet to be deciphered. However, the in-depth study done on a significant number of them, clearly leads to the startling conclusion that the copy comes from the beit midrash of Rabbi Shlomo Luria, the Maharshal, av”d and Rosh Yeshivah of Lublin. The Maharshal was one of the greatest poskim, Talmudic commentators, and leaders of 16th-century Ashkenazi Jewry. He was famed for his works and responsa, as well as his glosses on early works. Due to the rarity and importance of the glosses, their origins, content, and writer, a public academic recommendation was published, recommending the transfer of this special copy from private possession to a public library, where it will be preserved in an appropriate manner for future generations and enable in-depth study for Torah and research purposes.
The Content of the Glosses in the Book: (a) A significant amount of the commentary of Rabbi Isaac Stern (a 15th-century Ashkenazi scholar who died in Regensburg in 1495) on the Semag is copied in the glosses. Rabbi Isaac Stern’s commentary on the Semag was first published in Venice in 1547, however it was printed according to an early manuscript. Machon Yerushalayim’s edition of Semag HaShalem contains the commentary according to the author’s edited manuscript, however it is only on part of the Semag. This manuscript features the elucidation of Rabbi Isaac Stern throughout the book, variant to the text of the Venice edition. This transcription could be extremely significant in understanding the development of the work and the relationship between the various editions; (b) Revisions to the text of the Semag, corrected by the proofreader only a few years after the book was printed; (c) A transcription of the entire Sha’arei Dura written by Rabbi Yitzchak ben Rabbi Meir HaLevi of Dura, according to the 1534 Krakow edition; (d) Transcription of an unknown work, Seder Techinot Shel HaRav Shneur, containing orders of French customs, which has never been printed.
When were these Glosses Written? Out of the thousands of glosses there are two glosses that contain precise testimony about the date and place of writing. The first: “I copied all of this […] on Sunday 11 Tishrei in the year 5298 [September 26, 1537] here in Lemberg.” Also: “I copied this from the Yoreh Deah of Rabbi Kalman Virmish […] Sunday 11 Tishrei 5298 here in the city of Lemberg.” This clearly states that the glosses were written in 1537. In addition, the location is clear: “Lemberg” is spelled the way that Lemberg – Lvov – was written at the time in Jewish-halachic writing, as the Maharshal himself testified in his Yam Shel Shlomo, paragraph 32: “Lemburg which is known as Lvov.” The other glosses are estimated to be from other years. However, a thorough study of them indicates that they were definitely written between the years 1523 and 1540.
Discoveries Related to the Content of the Glosses: Some of the glosses that were written before the year 1537 are very similar to the wording in Amudei Shlomo, the Maharshal’s glosses on the Semag. Most of the glosses are identical in regards to the text itself and other unique identifying details, such as the use of uniform phrases, identical source references and, in particular, a common style. Without a doubt, the same person wrote both works, or alternatively, one work was copied from the other. The first premise, which is not out of the question, is that the glosses were written by the Maharshal himself. This premise is based on the great similarity between the glosses that appear both in Amudei Shlomo and in this manuscript.
However, this manuscript also features Italian characteristics, similar to the Ashkenazic writing in the Northern Italian communities. This fact connects the author to the large group of Jews who settled in northern Italy. In addition, these glosses were written in 1523-1530, when the Maharshal was a young Torah scholar. Did he write his comments on the Semag at such an early period?
The first thought tends to attribute the writing to one of the Maharshal’s teachers. However, the limited number of communities where the Maharshal resided in his adult years and the fact that he did not reveal his teachers’ names leads scholar Rabbi Yisrael Peles to suggest that the author of the “joint glosses” is Rabbi Kalonymus Yerushalmi, the Maharshal’s father-in-law, who was originally from Italy and was a disciple of a disciple of Rabbi Yisrael Isserlin, the author of Terumat HaDeshen. The Maharshal mentions his father-in-law in his responsa and his works with tremendous respect and with many honorifics. According to this suggestion, the Maharshal copied the glosses from this manuscript and they were included in his Amudei Shlomo.
It is important to note that the recently published article about the Maharshal’s library gives much attention to the manuscripts in his library. The Maharshal notes several times that he studied from books in manuscript form and did not suffice with studying from the printed editions. In his search for the most precise work, he compared different manuscripts of the same work in order to fully grasp the writer’s intention. A vivid and interesting description of his manner of study was passed down to us by one of his contemporaries, the proofreader Rabbi Shmuel son of Rabbi Yitzchak Pihem, in the introduction to Chochmat Shlomo: “This is the great deed which he did, he did not stop acquiring old books of the Talmud, Rashi and Tosafot on parchment, and according to them and to the rulings of Rabbi Alfas and Maimonides, Semag and Semak and the Ba’al HaTurim, and the author of the Aruch, and responsa of early and later sages, in their wake he trod and proofread, and corrected any errors.” Likewise, the Maharshal also studied the book Ein Yaakov by Rabbi Yaakav ben Shlomo ibn Habib (first printed in his lifetime, Venice 1546) in order to compare the Talmud’s wording and Rashi’s wording: “From Rashi’s words it seems that it is not written in the Mishnah, and in other books it is also not in the Mishnah, and this is proved from the Ein Yaakov” (Chochmat Shlomo, Succah 45b). This was an interesting and unique manner of study at the time.
When studying the list of books, we find that the Maharshal’s library contained the private libraries of several great rabbis from the previous generations. Among them, the library of Rabbi Yaakov Polack, “The great light of Polish scholars; all of the great rabbis of this land are his disciples.” The Maharshal also owned Rabbi Yaakov Polack’s copy of the Semag, with many glosses and important additions. However, it seems that he did not yet own this manuscript when he wrote his Amudei Shlomo on the Semag, because it is mentioned only in his novellae on the Tur and the prayerbook. Accordingly, it seems that the glosses and novellae on the Tur and prayerbook were written later than the work on the Semag (refer to: Rabbi Yehudah Leib Kliers, Aron HaSefarim Shel HaMaharshal, HaMayan, March 2015).
If the “joint glosses” were indeed copied by the Maharshal from the manuscript before us, this aligns with his style of learning and writing of his glosses on the Semag: He payed great attention to the manuscripts related to the Semag, according to the collection of manuscripts in his private library.
This lot includes the report of researcher Rabbi Yisrael Peles. In addition, Rabbi Peles published an extensive overview of the importance of the manuscript and the discovery of the early works it contains in the Moriah Journal, published by Machon Yerushalayim, March 2015.
The volume bears ownership signatures: “Menachem Mendel son of Rabbi Zvi.” The handwriting indicates that he lived in the 17th century. This is possibly Rabbi Menachem Mendel ben Rabbi Zvi Hirsch of Wegrow, author of Tzintzenet Menachem (Berlin, 1719). An additional signature, “Zvi Hirsch son of Rabbi Mendel Shapira,” possibly refers to “The small one Zvi Hirsch Shapira of Krakow” who signed on the decision of the Council of Four Lands in 1676 and is possibly the grandson of Rabbi Natan Neta Shapira, author of Megaleh Amukot.
Whether the glosses were written by him or copied out by him, this is the personal copy owned by the Maharshal, in which he wrote glosses or from which he copied many glosses, which were included in his great work on the Semag. As stated above, from the “joint glosses” of this manuscript and Amudei Shlomo, it is clearly proven that the Maharshal owned the volume before us and it was possibly part of his library.
The rabbis of the generation after the Maharshal describe him as the greatest sage of his generation, even in comparison with the great rabbis of his generation, Rabbi Yosef Karo and and Rema, and so the historian David Ganz writes about him in the chronicle Tzemach David (part one, 1573): “Rabbi Shlomo Luria of Ostroh is the great luminary, the crown of Israel, the wonder of his time, in whose light our people go and from whose water all of the Jewish Diaspora drink. His name is famous throughout the world, and he taught many disciples, and was greater than all of the members of his generation.” His epitaph states: “Here lies the giant of giants, the king of all of the wisdom of teachers, the great luminary who gave light to the Jewish people for all generations.”
A rare and important bibliographical copy, with early Ashkenazi rabbinic handwriting, of incomparable Torani, research, and historical importance.
Without a binding. Missing a number of leaves at the beginning. Blemished margins, affecting text. A few tears and stains. The vast majority of the handwriting is clear and legible.
