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Bidding Information
Lot #    14737
Auction End Date    6/13/2006 12:24:00 PM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Oseh Pele
Title (Hebrew)    עשה פלא
Author    R. Joseph Shabbati Farhi
City    Livorno (Leghorn)
Publisher    Solomon Belaforte
Publication Date    1925
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    [4], 44; 78; 78 ff., octavo, 182:118 mm., wide margins, usual age staining, stamps, old hands. A very good copy bound in uniform contemporary boards.
          
Detailed
Description		    Three-volume collection of tales and legends from various sources collected by R. Joseph Shabbati Farhi. The title page of the first volume describes it as a book of awesome tales, describing that which was done by the Lord, beginning with the miracle of Purim, followed by Megillat Antiochus, ma’aseh Yehudit, and Kesai Shelomo. These are brought so that the children of Israel will hear and be strengthened in the Torah and mizvot. There is an introduction from the author, an introduction for the book, and the text. Oseh Pele is set in a single column in rabbinic type. At the end of volume three is a detailed index of the contents. To cite an example of the material in Oseh Pele, Megillat Antiochus, mentioned on the title page, is believed to have been written in Aramaic sometime between the mid-eighth to the mid-ninth centuries. A popular work, it was translated into Hebrew and a number of languages; it was first printed separately in Guadalajara (c. 1482), and with a Pentateuch with Rashi and haftarot in Naples (c. 1491). It is more often to be found in mahzorim. In the middle ages it was publicly read in Italian synagogues on Shabbat Hanukkah and R. Isaiah de Trani discusses whether a blessing should be recited before its reading.

The Farhi family was renowned for its financial acumen. The Farhi’s were financiers in Damascus during the 18th and 19th centuries. Members of this family held the position of arraf ("banker") in the province of Damascus during the 1740s and possibly even earlier. It appears that members of this family also served as officials in the financial administration of the province and during the 1790s the bookkeeping of the provincial treasury was entrusted to them. The status and power of this family reached its climax during the 19th century, when the responsibility for the affairs of the treasury of the provinces of Damascus and Sidon - the center of which was in Acre - was handed over to one of its members. The family could then undertake the financing of large-scale projects, including participation in the financing of the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) expenses, which was within the domain of the governor of the Damascus Province as the organizer of the hajj caravan. Later members of the family had varied careers, including several members who wrote works on various subjects. It is not unlikely that R. Joseph Shabbati Farhi belonged to this family.
          
Paragraph 2    ... מעשים נוראים. אשר עשה ה'... כ"ד [כה דברי]... ישפ"ה ... נדפס פעם רביעית... חלק א-ג.

חלק א: סיפור הנס של פורים... ומגילת אנטיוכוס ומעשה יהודית... ומעשה כסא שלמה... ומעשיות מחכמתו וקורותיו (שלקטתי... מתרגום שני ומדרשים ומספר... חמדת ימים). [4], מד דף. חלק ב: ממעשים קדמונים. אשר לא נדפסו לעולמים ליקוטי שושנים. מאשר שמעה אזני מאנשי' חכמים... ומאיזה ס' קדמונים ועשיתי להם סמוכות תוכחת מוסר. עח דף. חלק ג: ... המעשים יקרים... ולדעת מוסר השכל... דומה לשני. עח דף. דף עב,ב-עה,א: ס' אורחות חיים להרב ר' אליעזר הגדול. דף עה,ב-עו,ב: שיר שיסד... השד"ר... ר' שמ"ח [שלום משה חי] גאגין בהיותו בשליחותו בעי"ת רומא... פותח: שאי רנה אל תדומי הקשיבי שירי בת רומי (אוצר השירה והפיוט, ג, עמ' 406, מס' 66). דף עו,ב-עז,א: שיר מאת המחבר. פותח: אפתחה במשל פי. שפתי רננות יהלל פי (שם, א, עמ' 329, מס' 7232).

          
Reference
Description		    BE ayin 1189; EJ; CD- EPI 0159054
        
Associated Images
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Listing Classification
Period
20th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Italy:    Checked
  
Subject
History:    Checked
  
Characteristic
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica