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Daniel Bomberg, the son of an Antwerp merchant, can be referred to as the father of the printed Babylonian Talmud. Indeed, among his many accomplishments are the first printing of Babylonian Talmud (1520-23) and the Jerusalem Talmud (1522-23, a beautiful copy in this auction), the first Mikra’ot Gedolot (1515-17), the first Alfas (1522), the first Kariate printed book (1528-29). Why the Christian (Calvinist) Bomberg printed Hebrew books is a subject of many bibliographers’ articles. He was associated with Felice da Prato, an apostate who subsequently became a friar, who influenced him to print Hebrew books. Israel Mehlman assumes that proselytism played a role in the process, albeit a small one. The activities of Bomberg on behalf of the Jewish community were not limited by printing. The British Jewish historian, Cecil Roth, writes that Bomberg helped Marranos find refuge in Turkey. He is recorded as having fought for and obtained certain rights for his Jewish workers denied other Venetian Jews. For a detailed, in-depth review of the Bomberg Talmud see Printing the Talmud, Prof. Marvin J. Heller, Im Hasefer, Brooklyn, 1992, pages 135-182. For all his righteousness Bomberg nevertheless appears to have plagiarized much of the text for his Talmud from the Gershom Soncino tractates. Soncino complains in his Mikhlol that the Venetian printers copied his editions (Heller p. 145). Support for his complaint can be found in the errors Bomberg duplicated from Soncino tractates.
Ephraim Dienard best describes the rarity of the tractates in the late 19th and early 20th century (Atikos Yehudah p. 42): “I doubt the existence of greater than three complete sets in the world. The tractates utilized in yeshivas were torn and lost. Especially rare to find are complete volumes of the following tractates: Berakhot, Bezah, Sabbath, Chagigah, Gittin, Kiddushin, Ketubbot, the three Bavaos. The majority of tractates in Jewish Theological Seminary (New York), Hebrew Union College (Cincinnati), University of California in San Francisco, Library of Congress are of my doing, complete ones not to be found.” Needless to say conditions have not improved in the 21st century, the Holocaust and Jewish perils have only added to the scarcity of these volumes.
Tohorot (cleannesses), the last of the six orders of the Mishnah, according to the traditional arrangement mentioned in the homily of Simeon b. Lakish (Shab. 31a), but the fifth order according to R. Tanhuma (Num. R. 13:15). Tohorot discusses the halakhot of the different categories of ritual purity and impurity.
It contains 12 tractates, arranged in descending order according to the number of chapters: Kelim, containing 30 chapters, on vessels susceptible to impurity; Oholot, 18 chapters, on ritual impurity arising from the overshadowing of a dead person; Nega'im, 14 chapters, on uncleanness relating to leprosies; Parah, 12 chapters, on the red heifer; Tohorot, ten chapters, mainly on conditions rendering foods unclean; Mikva'ot, ten chapters, on the pools for ritual immersion; Niddah, ten chapters, on uncleanness relating to the menstruant; Makhshirim, six chapters, on the fluids rendering food susceptible to becoming ritually impure; Zavim, five chapters, on uncleannesss from gonorrhea; Tevul Yom, four chapters, on uncleanness, lasting until the sunset, of one who has gone through ritual immersion during the day; Yadayim, four chapters, on the uncleanness of unwashed hands and their purification; and Ukzin, three chapters, on the uncleanness transferred by the stalks or husks of fruits or plants - 126 chapters in all. Because of its length, some divided Kelim into three bavot ("gates"), namely Bava Kamma, Bava Mezia, and Bava Batra, each containing ten chapters, as was done with Nezikin. In the Tosefta of Tohorot, Kelim Bava Kamma has seven chapters, Kelim Bava Mezia 11, and Kelim Bava Batra, seven chapters; Oholot has 18, Nega'im nine, Parah 12, Niddah nine, Mikva'ot seven (or eight), Tohorot 11, Makhshirim three, Zavim five, Yadayim two, Tevul Yom two, and Ukzin three chapters. Apart from the tractate Niddah, Tohorot has no Gemara in either the Jerusalem or Babylonian Talmud. |
