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Bidding Information
Lot #    11073
Auction End Date    7/12/2005 2:32:00 PM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    She'elot u-Teshuvot
Title (Hebrew)    שאלות ותשובות
Author    [Only Ed.] R. Isaac b. Samuel ha-Levi
City    Neuwied
Publisher    Johann Belzer Haupt
Publication Date    1736
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    Only edition. [1], 33 ff., 327:188 mm., wide margins, usual age and damp staining, old hand on title. A very good copy bound in later half leather baords, rubbed.
          
Paragraph 1    The R. Jedidya Tia b. Nethanel Weil copy with his inscription on title. R. Weil, German rabbi, was born at Prague Oct. 2, 1721 and passed on at Carlsruhe Oct. 10, 1805. He received his early instruction from his father, the Korban Nethanel. In 1744 he married Gitel, daughter of R. Jacob Eger, a well-to-do resident of Prague; but the expulsion of the Jews from Prague ordered by Maria Theresa drove him to Metz in 1745, where he remained until 1748, continuing his studies under R. Jonathan Eybeschütz. Returning to Prague, he lived in great difficulties until, in 1754, he became rabbi of Wottitz, in Bohemia. In 1758 he again settled in Prague, which he left in 1770 to succeed his father in the rabbinate of Carlsruhe. Of his works only a commentary on the Passover Haggadah has been printed (Carlsruhe, 1791, published anonymously). Responsa of his are found in the collection of R. Ezekiel Landau and in his father's "Netiv Hayyim" (Fürth, 1779). Numerous novellæ and homilies are preserved in manuscript. His will shows him to have been a man of genuine piety and a believer in the Kabbalah.
          
Detailed
Description		    R. Isaac b. Samuel ha-Levi (1580–1646?), was the elder brother and teacher of R. David b. Samuel ha-Levi. He was born in Ludomir, and studied under R. Joshua Falk at Lemberg. He served as rabbi of Chelm and in 1627 was appointed rosh yeshivah in Posen. He was one of the leading talmudic scholars and sages of his generation and was recognized as a halakhic authority, linguist, and grammarian. He had a sound knowledge of geometry and of German. He was kind and never adopted a didactic attitude toward his questioners, not even to his own students. Isaac is the author of She'elot u-Teshuvot ve-Hiddushei Mahari ha-Levi (Neuwied, 1736). These show him to have been considerate, balanced in judgment, and inclining toward leniency whenever possible. In his novellae he does not hesitate to attack the views of such outstanding authorities as R. Solomon Luria, R. Samuel Edels, R. Judah Leib b. Bezalel and R. Levi ibn Habib. He possessed a concise style and penetrated to the very heart of the problems under discussion. In his halakhic decisions he takes into consideration the rules of grammar, attaching great value to a knowledge of Hebrew and its grammar. He published Si'ah Yizhak (Basle, 1627) on the rules of grammar and the conjugation of the verb. To it he appended Beit ha-Levi, discussing all compound and doubtful words in the Bible. In its introduction, Isaac complained of "the lack of attention paid to the knowledge of Hebrew. Its study is neglected and its origins are not investigated." He pointed out that the meanings of some words were not known because even scholars had no knowledge of the conjugation being used. Instead of devoting themselves to a thorough study of grammar, they disparaged it as being a mere routine task, requiring no intelligence. Even were this so, he writes, it is still a highly skilled accomplishment, essential for all scholarship, and a prerequisite for all sacred study, since, without it, no one can write or speak Hebrew correctly. The book carried an approbation by R. Yom Tov Lipman Heller, and was highly praised by R. Samuel David Luzzatto. An abbreviated edition, Derekh Si'ah (Frankfort, 1693), was published by J. L. Oppenheim. A poem of R. Isaac's, Shir Ge'ulim, commemorating the freeing of Lemberg Synagogue from the hands of the Jesuits, was published in 1609. He left an unpublished manuscript, Elleh Toledot Yizhak, a supercommentary on Rashi. Many of his ideas and opinions are incorporated in his brother's Turei Zahav and one of his responsa in Bayit Hadash he-Hadash (Korzec, 1785), no. 78. In the 1646 edition of Turei Zahav he is referred to as being no longer alive.
          
Paragraph 2    חלק ראשון, מהגאון ... רבינו יצחק הלוי זצ"ל אחיו ורבו של ... [ר' דוד ב"ר שמואל הלוי] בעל המחבר טורי זהב ... וכמה שאלות אשר נשאל ... המחבר מאחיו ... במצות ובהוצאות ... המדפיס ... ישראל בן ... משה ז"ל ... ,p> מעבר לשער: דברי המגיה ... יוסף בן ... ר' בנימן ישראל יפה מקעמפנא וחתן מהור"ר אייזק סג"ל משטרים יזיי"א ... ואפריון נמטי לגברא ... ר' אברהם סג"ל נר"ו אשר טרח ויגע ... עד אשר בא הספר ... תחת מכבש הדפוס.

חלק ב הוא: חידושי הלכות. ראינו טפסים בהם נדבק דף על "דברי המגיה" ובו שתי ההסכמות. בהמשך הדף דברי-הקדמה מאת המוציא לאור, ר' יחזקאל ב"ר יצחק אייזיק מאפטא, שאר בשרו של המחבר, הנזכר בהסכמות יחד עם שותפו ר' שמעון וואלף ב"ר "יהודא ליב שהיה אב"ד בק"ק פפערשא ומדינות שוואבין". הסכמות: ר' משה ב"ר יעקב הלוי ברנדס, מגנצא, כא אלול תצ"ו; ר' שמואל הילמן, מנהיים, יט אלול תצ"ו.

          
Reference
Description		    CD-EPI 0136839; EJ; Fuenn, Keneset, 628–9; H. N. Dembitzer, Kelilat Yofi, 1 (1888), 50; S. Buber, Anshei Shem (1895), 114–5; S. M. Chones, Toledot ha-Posekim (1910), 561; JE
        
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Listing Classification
Period
  
18th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Germany:    Checked
  
Subject
Responsa:    Checked
  
Characteristic
Autographed:    Checked
First Editions:    Checked
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica