View Auction Listing - Parody - Megillat Shemittah

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Bidding Information
Lot #		20015
Auction End Date		2/19/2008 11:26:00 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)

Title Information

Title (English)

Parody - Megillat Shemittah

Title (Hebrew)

מגלת שמטה

Author

[Polemic] Kal Me-Subim (Kadish Yehuda Leib Silman)

City

Jerusalem

Publisher

Sinunit

Publication Date

1910

Collection Information

Independent Item

This listing is an independent item not part of any collection

Description Information

Physical
Description

Scroll, 114 mm., light age staining, several tears.

Detailed
Description

Very humorous parody closely imitating Megillat Esther but actually about the dispute over the Hetter Mekhira, which allows the land to be sold to non-Jews for the Sabbatical year and therefore to be worked by Jews. (Parenthetically, an issue very much current today as this year is a Shemittah year and the subject is once again a matter of controversy). Megillat Shemittah is in favor of the hetter, taking the position of R. Abraham Kook, as opposed to the position of R. Moses Joshua Judah Leib Diskin and R. Samuel Salant . Megillat Shemittah begins with blessings to be recited befre trhe Miegillah and follows the language and story of Megillat Esther but by substituting names and occurrences is able to achieve a high level of parody and humor while making its point. The Megillah is further enhanced by the inclusion at the bottom pages of two commentaries Metzudot Duzi and Metzudot Zion, parodies of the biblical commentaries Metzudot David and Zion. The names of characters in Megillat Shemittah are of contemporary rabbis, among them Rav Kook, who is in place of Mordecai. For example, “‘On that night [R. Hayyim Berlin] could not sleep and he commanded to bring the [Chumash of abba] and it was read’ (cf. Esther 6:1) before Berlin. And he found written in it there is no hetter for the grapes of the Jews but there is a hetter before Bismark and Steker who sought “to lay hands on” the existence of the Jews.

Kadish Yehuda Leib Silman, (1880–1937), Hebrew writer and satirist. Born near Vilna, Silman taught in Vilna's first Hebrew school in which Hebrew was the language of instruction, and later directed a "modern ḥeder" in Gomel. In 1907 he immigrated to Palestine and devoted his life to teaching, mostly in Jerusalem. He was one of the founders of Tel Aviv and of the neighborhood of Bet ha-Kerem in Jerusalem. His literary poems, stories, and articles from Palestine (his series of newsletters to Haolam under the general title of "Mikhtavim el Ah") became famous. His contribution to the fields of popular ballads, poetry, satire, and humor was also of importance. His books for children include Shirim la-Am (1910); Zimrei Am (folk songs, 1927); Lekhu Nerannenah (70 folk songs with musical notes, 1928); Mordekhai ve-Haman (a play for children, 1934); and Shimon Sevivon (a story, 1937). In the field of humor, parody and satire, he published Massekhet Bava Tekhnikah (c. 1910) and Shas Ereẓ Yisre'eli Katan (a parody dealing with the language conflict, c. 1913). He also published satiric newspapers for several decades: La-Yehudim (irregularly between 1909 and 1927) and Aspaklaryah (1920).

Paragraph 2

נמצאה בגנזי החורבה. נדפסה פעם ראשונה בשושן ועתה יצאה לאור במהדורא תנינא ומתוקנת לקראה כדין וכמצוה בכל שנה של שמטה ועם שני פרושים... ממני הק' קל מסבין [קדיש יהודה סילמאן]...

פארודיה על המחלוקת בעניין ה"היתר" בשנת השביעית. נגד האוסרים. שם המחבר על-פי א' יערי, קרית ספר, שנה יא, תרצ"ה, עמ' 300, מס' 220. יצא גם בצורת מגילה, בלא ספירת עמודים, בתוספת עמוד אחד אחר השער, הכולל "ברכות שנוהגין בצבור לפני קריאת המגילה".

Reference
Description

EJ; CD-EPI 0154079

Associated Images

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

Order	Image	Caption
1

2

Listing Classification

Period

20th Century:

Checked

Location

Israel:

Checked

Subject

Parody:		Checked
Polemics:		Checked

Characteristic

First Editions:		Checked
Language:		Hebrew

Manuscript Type

Kind of Judaica