Detailed
Description |
|
Manuscript providing a thorough summary of the halakhot dealing with the ritual slaughter of kosher animals. Written in a fine hand the text consists of the halakhot in square letters with a lengthier commentary in small very fine rabbinic letters. There is, in addition to the halakhot and commentary, a concise introduction to bedika. On the last leaf is a collection of events that the author recounts (ma’aseh ha-ba li-yadi). The colophon says that it concludes the bedikot of R. Weil. His Hilkhot Shehitah u-Vedikah .("laws of slaughtering and examination"is particularly well known, accepted as a basic text on the subject), which was accepted as halakhic practice by the Ashkenazim and has been republished more than 70 times. These laws were first published in his responsa (Venice, 1549), and various scholars, among them Solomon *Luria (the Maharshal), added glosses, explanations, and novellae. The section Bedikot (Venice, 1552) was first published separately, but from the Mantua, 1556, edition, it was published together with the laws of slaughtering and given the title Shehitot u-Vedikot. Hilkhot Shehitah u-Vedikah was intended primarily for shohatim, to enable them to revise the laws. For this reason the sources are not given, nor does the work contain halakhic novellae, but merely gives the ruling in the briefest terms. He stresses the final halakhic ruling but also gives the local customs. The aharonim, especially R. Moses Isserles, attached great importance to his rulings, accepting them as binding. Of the many commentaries on his Hilkhot Shehitah u-Vedikah, the Ohel Yisrael (Wandsbek, 1733) of Israel of Copenhagen should be noted. It contains additions by later authorities and also includes questions "that should be asked of those coming to receive ordination," so that they can show their familiarity with the subject.
R. Jacob ben Judah Weil (d. before 1456) was a German rabbi and halakhic authority in the first half of 15th century. The name Weil was derived from the town of that name in the Neckar district. Weil's main teacher was R. Jacob Moellin (the Maharil), who ordained him and appointed him rabbi of Nuremberg. R. Moellin granted him permission to establish a yeshivah there, but he refrained out of respect for Zalman Katz, who had previously been appointed to this office (Responsa Weil, no. 151). It appears, however, that from 1422 he served in both offices. R. Weil also refers to R. Zalman Ronkel of Mainz as "my teacher" and states that he studied in his yeshivah (ibid.). After Nuremberg he was in Augsburg, then in Bamberg for a short period, and from 1444 he was rabbi of Erfurt. Scholars from various communities, including R. Israel Isserlein, addressed their halakhic problems to him. Weil became renowned through his volume of responsa (Venice, 1523, frequently republished) which contains 193 responsa. They were copied during his lifetime and some are found among the responsa collections of other rabbis.
|
