View Auction Listing - Olelot Efrayim

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Bidding Information
Lot #		23931
Auction End Date		7/7/2009 10:27:00 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)

Title Information

Title (English)

Olelot Efrayim

Title (Hebrew)

עוללות אפרים

Author

[Revised Ed.] R. Ephraim Solomon Luntshits

City

Prague

Publisher

Abraham Heida

Publication Date

1619-20

Collection Information

Independent Item

This listing is an independent item not part of any collection

Description Information

Physical
Description

Revised edition. 23, 25-43, 45-140 ff., 302:190 mm., usual light age and damp staining, extra wide margins, mispaginated. A very good copy bound in modern half leather boards.

Paragraph 1

The Hakham Moses Gater copt with his stamp on title.

Detailed
Description

Second and first revised edition by the author, 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

אשר חיבר הרב... הישיש... ר' שלמה אפרים בן... ר' אהרן לונשיץ י"ץ. נדפס שנית... והוגה בעיון נמרץ ע"י המחוקק בעצמו מתוך ספר הגאון הנ"ל אשר זיקק אותו שבעתים עם הרבה הגהות שהוסיף נופך בזקנותו זקן ויושב בישיבה...

בשער: בשנת חדש ע'לינו ש'נה ט'ובה [שע"ט]. קולופון: היום... יב שבט לפרט ובפרשה מש"ם שם לו חוק ומשפט וימתקו המים [ש"ף]. "הרבה הגהות" שהוסיף המחבר צויינו בפנים בסוגריים.

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

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