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Bidding Information
Lot #    5840
Auction End Date    10/8/2003 3:34:00 PM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    She’elot u’Teshuvot ha-Geonim
Title (Hebrew)    שאלות ותשובות הגאונים
Author    Ge’onim
City    Prague
Publisher    Solomon ben Mordecai ha-Kohen
Publication Date    1590
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    47 ff., 8vo., 190:135 mm., usual age staining, made up copy, bound in modern cloth boards.
          
Detailed
Description		    Four hundred responsa from the geonim, heads of the talmudic academies, mainly in Babylonia, in Sura and Pumbedita, in the period after the redaction of the Talmud. The ge’onim, undisputed halakhic authorities of the time, received many thousands of inquiries from throughout the Jewish world encompassing all aspects of Jewish life and learning. The title page has the ornate Prague frame with Moses holding the tablets of the Law at the top, cherubim on the either side of him, and along the sides two bearded figures above additional cherubim, a single Magen David on the right, and at the bottom two lions about the spread hands of the Kohen. On the verso is a preamble from R. Solomon ben Menahem Kabuli, and below that a two tailed crowned lion, the emblem of Bohemia. Next are the contents by subject, in two columns (6 f.), the text, and then verse in praise of the work, and, on the last page, epilogues from R. Menahem Aguzi and the editor, R. Ezekiel Moses ben Jacob. Only the last is original to this printing.

The text, in square letters in a single column, is unpaginated. Both queries and responses are concise, often simplifying a complex law in an epigrammatic manner. The names of the submitter, in contrast to later responsa, are omitted. The contents, by subject, are: tefilla and tefillin; Shabbat, Yom Tov and Pesah; the sanctity of the Kohen; first born and milah; honoring parents and proper conduct; laws related to dining; forbidden foods; usury; bans and lashes; gentile wine; oaths; illicit relations; betrothal; divorce and refusal of a minor; ketubbot; levirate marriage and halitzah; charity; judges and witnesses; ethics; injury; theft; deposits; sale; agency and partnership; borrowing and lending; deeds; inheritance and orphans; and mourning.
          
Paragraph 2    אשר נדפסו [בשנת של"ה]... בקרית מלך רב היא העיר ק"ק קוסטאנדינא...

בשולי דף [46,ב]: שלמה ב"ר מרדכי הכהן מחוקק שלי"ט. דף [46,ב]: "אמר המגיה... אם ימצא איזה מגומגים [!] בספר הזה ידע נאמנה כי כן נמצא כאשר יצאו ראשונה מדפוס קושטטינא... אמנם ברוב המקומות שהיה קשה הבנתם... הלכתי לחכמים... הטבו בחסד' עמי להעמי' הדין והלשון על צביונו... דברי יחזקאל משה בן... ר' יעקב נ"ע". נוספו מספר הערות בגוף התשובות. נדפס עם הקדמת ר' שלמה קבולי ועם דברי הסיום והשיר של ר' מנחם אגוזי, מן ההוצאה הראשונה. נוסף לתיקונים שעשה המגיה, כנ"ל, הוחלפו ה"מפתחות" ובמקומם ניתן מפתח לפי ענינים.

          
Reference
Description		    Heller, 16th Century Hebrew Book; Vinograd, Prague 65; CD-EPI 0183386
        
Associated Images
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Listing Classification
Period
16th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Other:    Bohemia
  
Subject
Halacha:    Checked
Responsa:    Checked
  
Characteristic
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica