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Bidding Information
Lot #    25364
Auction End Date    12/8/2009 12:03:30 PM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Zikhron Yosef
Title (Hebrew)    שו'ת זכרון יוסף
Author    [Only Ed.] R. Joseph Steinhardt
City    Fuerth
Publisher    Itzik Bookbinder
Publication Date    1773
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    Only edition. [3], 24, [1], 25-46, 46-67, 67-119, [2] ff., folio, 320:188 mm., wide margins, usual age staining. A very good copy loose in later boards, split. Includes the oft lacking polemical introduction page.
          
Detailed
Description		    Responsa and rulings on the four divisions of the Shulhan Arukh, with an appendix of his novellae and sermons by R. Joseph b. Menahem Steinhardt (1720–1776), German rabbi and posek. R. Steinhardt studied at the yeshivah of R. Jacob b. Benjamin ha-Kohen Poppers, in Frankfort. In 1746 he lived in Schwabach, Bavaria. He later served as rabbi of Alsace, with his seat at Rixheim. In 1755 he was appointed chief rabbi of Niederenheim in Lower Alsace, and from 1763 until his death served as rabbi of Furth. Among his pupils were R. Mordecai Banet of Mikulov, R. Moses Tobiah Sondheimer of Hanau, and R. Benjamin Ze'ev Wolf Heidenheim. His fame as a halakhic authority was such that problems were addressed to him from Hungary (his: Zikhron Yosef 4c, et al.), Italy (5c, 48a, 87b), Amsterdam (84c), and Switzerland (58b). He maintained a regular correspondence with his brother-in-law, R. Isaiah b. Judah Leib Berlin, with whom he communicated on various problems. In his work R. Steinhardt quotes comments and novellae by his learned wife, Kreindel, R. Isaiah Berlin's sister; Kreindel also urged her husband to publish his work. He was the author of: Mashbir Bar (1828), commentaries on the Pentateuch; and Ko'ah Shor, novellae to Bava Batra. These works were published by his grandson, Akiva Steinhardt, the rabbi of Kubin, Hungary. He declined to give a ruling on his own authority in difficult problems, emphasizing that he was one of "those apprehensive of giving rulings," and suggested that the concurrence of authoritative rabbis be sought (Zikhron Yosef 39a–b, 65b, 77b, et al.).

He took a firm stand on fundamental issues that were likely to undermine morality and religion. He was especially opposed to mixed dancing, and stressed in his responsum that "any rabbi and instructor is obligated to protest and to abolish any type of mixed dancing that is planned for his city during a festival." In the course of his responsa, he describes how he canceled a dance arranged in Niederenheim, even after the Jewish community had obtained permission from the secular authorities (22d no. 17). In the introduction to his responsa he inveighs against the Shabbateans, and particularly against the Hasidim. Because of his inimical attitude toward them, the Hasidim took steps to have those sections of his introduction directed at them removed, and in many editions the whole of the introduction is indeed missing.

R. Steinhardt mentions that he was "greatly punished by the death of children and grandchildren... and few of many remained to him." His son R. Moses (d. 1799) was the author of a Judeo-German commentary to the Sha'ar ha-Yihud of Bahya's Hovot ha-Levavot (Fuerth, 1765).
          
Paragraph 2    ... כסדר ארבע טורים ... עם חידושי פוסקים ... אשר חיבר ... ר' יוסף נר"ו בן כהר"ר מנחם משטיינהרט אב"ד ור"מ דקהילתינו ... ואגפי' ולפנים היה אב"ד במדינות עלזוז ...

בשער: לפרט ו'י'ו'ס'ף' ה'ו'א' ה'ש'ל'י'ט' בכל ה'ארץ [תקל"ג]. בסוף הספר (דף [1]) חותם המחבר: היום יום ה טוב כסליו תקל"ד. דך [3,ב]: שיר, מאת המחבר, הפותח: אנכי המחבר ספרי זה וקראתי אותו בשם זכרון יוסף. בהמשך העמוד: אמר המגיה ... שמעון נפתלי יכונה הירש בן ... ר' נתנאל ווייל זצ"ל. דף צח-קיט: חידושים ודרשות. דף קיט,ב: שבעה חרוזות ... הודאה ... על העבר. עוד שבעה בתים אחרים ... מתפלל על העתיד ... השיר פותח: אברך את אלהינו אשר עד כה עזרני. הקדמת המחבר נתלשה, מרוב הטפסים, על-ידי החסידים. עי': שמואל ווינער , קהלת משה, עמ' 431, מס' 3566.
          
Reference
Description		    CD-EPI 0169598; EJ
        
Associated Images
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Listing Classification
Period
  
18th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Germany:    Checked
  
Subject
Responsa:    Checked
  
Characteristic
First Editions:    Checked
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica