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Bidding Information
Lot #    22915
Auction End Date    3/3/2009 11:08:12 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Responsa by Jacob Reifmann
Title (Hebrew)    שו'ת מה'ר יעקב רייפמאנן
Author    [Ms.]
City    Szczebrzeszyn
Publication Date    19th cent.
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    [14] pp., 185:120 mm., light age staining, minor worming affecting several letters, ink on paper, neat Ashkenazi block letters, signed, not dated, bound in contemporary wrappers.
          
Detailed
Description		    An apparently unpublished responsa on the issue of teaching religious subjects to gentiles by Jacob Reifmann (1818–1895), scholar and writer. Reifmann, born in the Lagow district of Radom, Poland, was raised in Apta and subsequently lived in Lublin, Zamosc, and Szczebrzeszyn. Growing estranged from Hasidim, who were then dominant where he lived, Reifmann turned more to the Haskalah. His field was criticism of the Bible and the Talmud. Highly respected in scholarly circles for his erudition and critical mind, Reifmann also caused antagonism, especially because he was outspoken. His life was spent in great poverty, and he did not receive any official position or recognition. The conflicts in his attempt to merge his traditional East European background with modern Western scholarship are apparent in his writing, and probably also contributed to his difficulties in adjusting to his environment. Reifmann contributed hundreds of articles to the Hebrew periodicals of his time, and wrote 17 books. He covered a wide variety of areas, including Bible, Talmud, rabbinic literature, Aramaic translations of the Bible, liturgy, Jewish philosophy, and biography. He corresponded with such leading scholars of his time as S. J. L. Rapoport, L. Geiger, H. Graetz, M. Steinschneider, and S. D. Luzzatto.

Among Reifmann's work are: Tavnit ha-Bayit (1844) and Pesher Davar (1845), critical studies on talmudic matters; Toledot Rabbenu Zerahyah ha-Levi (1853), a biography; Hut ha-Meshullash (1859), on the familiarity of talmudic rabbis with foreign languages, on the history of fables among the Jews, and notes to the book Mivhar ha-Peninim; Beit ha-Talmud (vol. 3), on the problems concerning the geonic work, She'iltot; Sedeh Aram (1875), on Targum Onkelos; and Or Boker (1879), on talmudic criticism. Some of his works were published by N. Herskovics in Hadarom (1964–69) and by N. Ben-Menahem, Iggeret Bikkoret al Seder ha-Haggadah shel Pesah (1969) and Iyyunim be-Mishnat Avraham ibn Ezra (1962).

          
Reference
Description		    EJ
        
Associated Images
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Listing Classification
Period
19th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Russia-Poland:    Checked
  
Subject
Responsa:    Checked
  
Characteristic
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica