R. Shabbatai Katz, as referred to here, is actually R. Shabbetai ben Joseph Meshorer Bass (1641–1718), the renowned Biblical exegete, bibliographer, printer, and hazzan. R. Bass was born in Kalisch, Poznan province, Poland. His parents were murdered by Cossacks in 1655; R. Bass and his older brother, R. Jacob Strimmers (d. 1686), a renowned kabbalist, survived, fleeing to Prague. In Prague, R. Bass received a traditional education, studied secular subjects, including Latin, and, because of his pleasant voice, was taught hazzanut. This last resulted in Bass being offered a position as a basso singer in the Altneuschul in Prague, from which the surname (Meshorer) Bass is derived. R.Bass’s love of books drew him to printing and, in 1669, he published Be’er Moshe, Moses Saertels’ Yiddish commentary on the Pentateuch and Megillot, supplying an appendix on the rules of grammar. From 1674 to 1679 Bass traveled throughout Europe, using the opportunity to see collections of Hebrew books in private and communal collections. His experiences are recorded in Massekhet Derekh Erez (Amsterdam, 1680), a guide book for travelers in Yiddish that includes, in three chapters, prayers, information on road conditions, weights and measures. In 1679, Bass settled in Amsterdam, where he worked as a corrector and mastered the printing trade. Bass left Amsterdam to establish his own press, doing so in Dyhernfurth, in 1689. He would publish almost eighty titles there, and the press remained active, under the successive management of members of his family, until 1762. Bass’s experience in Dyhernfurth was not untroubled for he had to deal with the hostility of his non-Jewish neighbors, the partial destruction of the press by fire in 1708, and accusations against him by Jesuits resulting in his arrest in 1712 for blasphemy and the confiscation of his books. After being incarcerated for ten weeks Bass was found innocent and released. He also had to deal with considerable family opposition arising from his marriage to a much younger woman at an old age.

R. Bass’s most important achievements, and the works for which he is best remembered, are his super-commentary on Rashi, Siftei Hakhamim (Amsterdam, 1680), and his bibliographical work, Siftei Yeshenim (Amsterdam, 1680). The former is not an original commentary, but rather a simplified synopsis of Rashi and classical commentaries, intended for readers for whom those works are difficult in the original. It was first published together with a Pentateuch, afterwards as an independent work (Frankfurt a. Main, 1712), and today, due to its continuing popularity, Siftei Hakhamim is included in all editions of the Mikra’ot Gedolot. Siftei Yeshenim is the first bibliography of Hebrew books by a Jewish author. In the introduction Bass notes that R. Isaiah ha-Levi Horowitz (ha-Shelah ha-Kadosh, c. 1565-1630) remarked that for the untutored there was great merit in just reciting the names of books, for which Siftei Yeshenim is a useful tool. For that reason the text is in square rather than Rashi letters, to make it more easily accessible to readers. Siftei is an allusion to his name, for as the letters pe and bet have a similar sound, siftei שפתי and Shabbetai שבתי are two words that have similar pronunciations. Its more than 2,200 succinct entries include titles, author names, date and place of publications, a brief description of contents, and, for manuscripts, their location.

על-פי אמשטרדם תקכ"ו, ההוצאה עם הפירוש האלמוני.