View Auction Listing - Olelot Efrayim

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Bidding Information
Lot #		19060
Auction End Date		10/9/2007 11:42:30 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)

Title Information

Title (English)

Olelot Efrayim

Title (Hebrew)

עוללות אפרים

Author

[Wide Margin Copy] R. Ephraim Solomon Luntshits

City

Amsterdam

Publisher

Solomon Proophs

Publication Date

1710

Collection Information

Independent Item

This listing is an independent item not part of any collection

Description Information

Physical
Description

Third edition. [1], 113 ff., 360:230 mm., usual light age and damp staining, extra wide margins, old hand on title. A very good copy bound in later boards, split.

Detailed
Description

R. Ephraim Solomon b. Aaron Luntshits (Leczyca; 1550–1619), rabbi and renowned preacher. He was known as "Ephraim of Luntshits," the popular pronunciation of Leczyca among Polish Jews. The name "Solomon" was added some time after 1601. In his youth Ephraim was sent to study in the yeshivah of R. Solomon Luria. At an early age he had already gained a reputation as a preacher, in which capacity he traveled to Lublin, Lemberg, Jaroslaw, and other towns. It is not known whether he ever held a regular communal post before he became head of a yeshivah in Lemberg when he was already past fifty. In 1604, he arrived in Prague where he served as president of the rabbinical court and head of the yeshivah, but relinquished his rabbinical post in the last year of his life. As a preacher he was distinguished for his lucid and fascinating sermons. He addressed the heads of the Council of Four Lands when they met in Lublin and was apparently on friendly terms with the leaders of that council on whose recommendation he was appointed rosh yeshivah in Lemberg. R. Ephraim's sermons shed much light on the religious and communal life of the Polish-Jewish community of his time. He railed against the wealthy members of the congregation whose passion for money and luxury caused them to withhold assistance from their needy brethren and he criticized their pretensions to spiritual and religious status on the basis of their commercial success. He said that wealth corrupts and destroys the character of men when they do not appreciate its purpose. At the same time, he complained about the poor who wished to enjoy the charity of the rich without making any effort to provide for their needs. In addition, he attacked certain casuistic methods of talmudic study (pilpul) which often neglected the truth, and the desire for personal aggrandizement among communal leaders. R. Ephraim's sermons were collected and published in various books: Ir Gibborim (Basle, 1580); Olelot Efrayim (Lublin, 1590); Orah le-Hayyim (ibid., 1595); Keli Yakar (ibid., 1602), commentary on the Pentateuch in homiletic style that was subsequently included in various editions of the rabbinical Bible (Mikra'ot Gedolot); Siftei Da'at (Prague, 1610); Ammudei Shesh (ibid., 1617); Petihot u-She'arim (Zolkiew, 1799). He also compiled a book of sermons entitled Rivevot Efrayim, which is occasionally mentioned in his other works. He composed three Selihot in connection with the invasion of Prague in 1611 by the army of the bishop of Passau.

Paragraph 2

... ר' הירש בן הר"ר משה זצ"ל מפרנקפורט דאדר וכהר"ר ליברמן לוי ממגורשה[!] ווירמייזא אשר הזילו זהב מכיסם להוציאה לאור פעם שלישית...

הסכמות: ר' צבי הירש [אשכנזי] ב"ר יעקב מאובן, אמשטילרדם, כד תמוז ת"ע; ר' שלמה ב"ר יעקב אאילייון, אמשטרדם, כז תמוז ת"ע; ר' נפתלי הכהן [כ"ץ], פרנקפורט דמיין, יא אייר ת"ע.

Reference
Description

CD-EPI 0170556; EJ; H. H. Ben-Sasson, Hagut ve-Hanhagah (1959), 263, index; idem, in: Zion, 19 (1954), 142–66; H. R. Rabinowitz, Deyokena'ot shel Darshanim (1967), 137–49

Associated Images

2 Images (Click thumbnail to view full size image):

Order	Image	Caption
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2

Listing Classification

Period

18th Century:

Checked

Location

Holland:

Checked

Subject

Homiletics:

Checked

Characteristic

Language:

Hebrew

Manuscript Type

Kind of Judaica