Physical
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Only edition. [1], 273 ff., 292:186 mm., nice margins, light age staining, stamps on several ff., few minor pin size wormholes. A very good copy bound in contemporary leather boards, taped and rubbed. |
Detailed
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Responsa on all four parts of the Shulhan Arukh by R. Nissim Abraham ben Raphael Ashkenazi. The title page has a decorative frame and is dated “All the paths ארחות (615=1855) of the Lord are loving kindness and truth” (Psalms 25:10). R. Ashkenaz’s introduction is on the verso of the title page. Orah Hayyim (1a-48a) has fifty responsa and concludes with two responsa from R. Raphael Ashkenazi (47b-48a); Yoreh De’ah (48a-132b) has sixty responsa; Even ha-Ezer (132b-173a) fourteen responsa, and Hoshen Mishpat (173a-251a) forty responsa. The volume concludes with detailed indexes of the contents by order, subject, and sources (251a-273b). The title page describes this volume as part one but it is not clear that part two was ever printed. These responsa, printed in two columns in rabbinic type, excepting headers and initial words, are detailed and comprehensive, reflecting R. Ashkenazi’s great Talmudic erudition.
R. Nissim Abraham ben Raphael Ashkenazi (1790?–1860), dayyan and rabbi of Izmir (Smyrna) was taught by his father. One of his first responsa, dated 1816, notes his father's approval of his ruling. R. Ashkenazi was appointed rabbi in 1838. His other works include Nehmad le-Mareh, a commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud, in which he collected comments of the tosafists, the other early commentators, and, in particular, of later commentators. To these he added his own explanations of difficult passages. The work was published in four parts: Zera’im (Salonika, 1833), Mo’ed (ibid., 1846), Nashim (Izmir, 1857), Nezikin ve-Niddah (ibid., 1861). His other published works are Darash Avraham (Salonika, 1841–48), in two parts, a collection of sermons arranged in the order of the Pentateuch (to which are appended his father's sermons, entitled Mareh Adam, with his notes); and Na’eh le-Hodot (Leghorn, 1865), a homiletical commentary on the Psalms. R. Ashkenazi also published his father’s book, Mareh ha-Gadol (1820–31). R. Ashkenazi was known for his saintly ways and was a friend of the great sage, R. Hayyim Palaggi, whose eulogy to Ashkenazi is printed in his Helkam ba-Hayyim (1874). |
