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Bidding Information
Lot #    8046
Auction End Date    9/21/2004 2:13:00 PM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Iggeret Rav Sherira Ga’on
Title (Hebrew)    אגרת רב שרירא גאון
Author    Rav Sherira ben Hanina Gaon
City    Mainz
Publisher    Jehiel Brill
Publication Date    1873
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    [2], 68 pp., 172:115 mm., light age staining, nice margins. A very good copy bound in modern half cloth boards.
          
Detailed
Description		    Historical work by Rav Sherira ben Hanina Gaon (c. 906–1006), Gaon of Pumbedita from 968–1006. Iggeret Rav Sherira Ga’on was written in response to a query from the gaon Jacob ben Nissim ben Shahin of Kairouan. R. Jacob inquired as to when and how the Mishnah, the Tosefta, the beraitot, and the Talmud had been compiled, and whether the men of the Great Synagogue had really begun the writing of the Mishnah, and the Sages of each generation had written more parts of it until Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi came and compiled it. Rav Sherira deals with these questions in a scholarly manner, revealing himself a practical and accurate historian. He discusses the activity of the savoraim in revising and compiling the Talmud, and continues the sequence of tradition to the geonic authorities. The community of Kairouan was motivated to ask these questions because of their constant disputes with Karaites, who disputed the authenticity of the Oral Law. In his comprehensive response, Rav Sherira deals with the composition and order of Talmudic literature and the chronological sequence of post-Talmudic sages. The text is not dry, for Rav Sherira records important events of the time, and describes the institutions and legal reforms of the Geonim. Iggeret Rav Sherira Ga’on is based on the archival records of Pumbedita and oral reports current at the time. This work is the sole source for the history of the intellectual life of the Jews in Babylonia from 500-1000. Iggeret Rav Sherira Ga’on exists in two basic forms, known as nusach Zarfat (French) and nusach Sefarad (Spanish). This edition of is based on nusach Zarfat.

The title page states that the text of this edition was prepared from a number of manuscripts and has been corrected and annotated by Dov Baer Goldberg. The text, in a single column in square letters, is accompanied by numerous detailed footnotes in rabbinic letters. After the text is an essay (45-53) on the biography of Rav Sherira and the different texts of the Iggeret. This is followed by notes (53-62) and the volume concludes with two responsa from Rav Hai Gaon.
          
Paragraph 2    הוצאתיה לאור על-פי הנוסחאות הנכונות בכתיבות ידות שונות בתקונים והערות עם הארות ... דוב בער גאלדבערג המכונה ב"ג.

אגרת רב שרירא גאון ידועה בשתי נוסחאות, הנקראות "נוסח צרפת" ו"נוסח ספרד". הנוסח כאן הוא הנוסח הקרוי "צרפתי". מהדורה ראשונה של האגרת (על-פי כתב-יד ברלין בלבד) נדפסה על ידי בער גאלדבערג בתוך "חפש מטמונים", Berolini 1845. כאן באו הטקסט וההערות בשינויים. על מהדורותיו של גאלדבערג, עיין: ב"מ לוין, אגרת רב שרירא גאון, חיפה תרפ"א, עמ' XX, ועל הנוסח של האגרת, שהוא הנוסח הצרפתי, שם עמ' XLVII. עמ' 68-63: שתי תשובות לרב האי גאון. הראשונה "לא נדפסה בשום ספר", בעניין "גברא דזיל ביה מלתא למידן גבי דיינא אבציר מניה, היכי עביד". השניה בעניין "האב זוכה לבן בנוי בכח בעושר ובחכמה", ובסופה: "והר' נסים [ב"ר יעקב מקירואן] הוסיף במגילת סתרים שלו ...".

          
Reference
Description		    Baron, Social 6 (1958), 340–1, BE alef 562; EJ; JE; Waxman I 423-25; CD-EPI 0181273
        
Associated Images
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Listing Classification
Period
19th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Germany:    Checked
  
Subject
History:    Checked
  
Characteristic
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
  
Kind of Judaica