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Questions and answers on the weekly Torah portion intended for the classroom by R. Joshua Lisser ben Judah Leib Falk (seventeenth century). The author, born in Poland, was a schoolmaster in Hamburg. The title page has an unusual architectural form, with a checkered floor leading up to the text, which states, “As is his name, so he is Joshua and the purpose is to teach the children of Judah [through] questions and answers, “new and old” (cf. Song of Songs 7:14), to sharpen the students, “daily, every day” (var. cit.) arranged according to the order of the parashiot. . . . In the year, “my speech shall distil as the dew ëèì úæì (459 = 1699)” (Deuteronomy 32:2).”
R. Falk’s introduction follows, beginning that there is a biblical verse, “And you shall teach them diligently to your children” (Deuteronomy 6:7), that is, there is a mizvah from the Torah to instruct one’s children but there are those who wish to fulfill it but are unable and others for other reasons cannot. Therefore, “I have come forth for the salvation” (cf. Habakkuk 3:13) of these children. He has arranged this small work to sharpen them and to “Train the child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (cf. Proverbs 22:6) “And you shall tell your son in that day” (Exodus 13:8) regularly according to the order of the parashiot. Falk named the work Emek Yehoshu’a from the verse, “Joshua éäåùò went [that night] to the midst of the valley” (Joshua 8:13) and as his name so too the salvation éùåò and great purpose to sharpen the students in order to, “magnify the Torah, and make it glorious” Isaiah 42:21).
There is an approbation from R. Abraham Issachar Ber of Berlin and below it a brief statement from the editor as to the inedibility of some errors, followed by errata. Next is the text, in a single column. The questions, which are generally brief, are set in square letters, the responses are in rabbinic type. There are several queries to a parasha, and the responses are based on the Taslmud. At the end of the volume are 16 leaves of novellae on the Talmud, lacking here. |
