She'iltot - Ha'amek She'elah, Rav Ahai of Shabha Gaon; Neziv, Vilna 1861
שאילתות דרב אחאי גאון ע"ב העמק שאלה - First edition of commentary
- Sold Winning Bid: $150.00
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- Lot Number 46230
- Title (English) She'iltot - Ha'amek She'elah, Part I
- Title (Hebrew) שאילתות דרב אחאי גאון ע"ב העמק שאלה חלק א
- Note First edition of commentary
- Author Rav Ahai of Shabha Gaon; Neziv
- City Vilna
- Publisher Joseph Reuven Romm
- Publication Date 1861
- Estimated Price - Low 200
- Estimated Price - High 500
- Item # 1271476
- End Date
- Start Date
Physical Description
First edition of commentary. Part I (of 3) only, 7, 123 ff., folio, 380:235 mm., light age and damp staining, wide margins. A good copy bound in contemporary boards, rubbed and split.
Detail Description
R. Berlin was keenly interested in the general community and its needs. He wrote many detailed responsa to questions arriving from various communities throughout the world on matters of halakhah and on general public affairs. A small part of his responsa was collected in his Meshiv Davar (2 vols., Warsaw, 1892) which revealed his general breadth of outlook. He completely rejected the demand of certain religious circles to establish separatist orthodox communities, stressing that "such advice is as painful as a dagger in the body of the nation," for all Jews are commanded to form "one union" (Meshiv Davar, vol. 1 responsum 42). He joined the Hibbat Zion movement from its very inception, and at the Druzgeniki Conference (1887) was elected "counseling member" of its executive. In many letters he urged observant Jews to join the movement and to support the settlement of Jews in Erez Israel, even though some were nonobservant. At the same time, he stressed that "our contributions do not go to settle the land of the Philistines, but to restore the desolation of our Holy Land... so that the Torah and the precepts be observed among its inhabitants" (Meshiv Davar, vol. 2, responsum 50, on shemitta). With that end in view, he urged that a religious person be appointed supervisor of the settlers in the colonies in Erez Israel to ensure they conduct themselves in accordance with the Torah and the precepts. He also suggested that "secular" members of the Jewish settlements (referring to the Bilu'im in Gederah) be enabled to return to their countries abroad and that their place be taken by observant Jews from the old yishuv in Jerusalem. R. Berlin was opposed to the permission granted by other rabbinic authorities for fields to be worked during the sabbatical year by means of the legal fiction of "selling" the land to non-Jews.
In his last years, he came into conflict with the Russian authorities as a result of their instructions both for a reduction in the number of students at the yeshivah of Volozhin and the introduction of secular subjects, especially the study of Russian, in the curriculum. Very much against his will, he reduced the student roll somewhat and introduced the study of Russian. However, even after these steps, the number of students at the yeshivah remained double that permitted by the Government, with few students among them attending the lessons in Russian. As a result the yeshivah was closed down by government decree in 1892 and R. Berlin and his family were exiled. They moved first to Minsk and later to Warsaw. The closing down of the yeshivah seriously affected his health and he was unable to carry out his desire to settle in Erez Israel. He died in Warsaw about 18 months after his departure from Volozhin.
Both in content and in form, She'iltot is unique in Jewish literature. It is unlike midrashic literature since its halakhic elements exceed its aggadic. It is without parallel in the literature of the Codes, being arranged neither according to subject matter nor according to the sequence of the sections in which the Pentateuch is divided. Rav Ahai's method is to connect decisions of the Oral Law with the Written Law.
Each she'ilta is divided into four parts. The first serves as a general introduction to the subject, speaks of the value and significance of the particular commandments, and serves as a preparation for the question that is to be discussed. The second part is always introduced with the words: "but it is necessary that you learn," or in an abridged form: "but it is necessary," followed by the question. Then comes the third part, the homiletical part, which begins: "Praised be the L-rd, who has given us the Torah and the commandments through our teacher Moses to instruct the people of Israel," after which the preacher proceeds from subject to subject. The fourth part is introduced by the formula: "With respect to the question I have set before you...," and then answers the question propounded in the second part. Some assume that the lecture was called "she'ilta" because its most important part is the question and its solution. However, not all the she'iltot have come down in their complete form: in most of them the third part is missing. One she'ilta is to be found in the Talmud itself (Shab. 30a) and it appears that this pattern of public sermon is ancient.
Rav Ahai (Ahai) of Shabha Gaon (680–752), scholar of the Pumbedita yeshivah in the geonic period and author of She'iltot ("Questions"). He came from Shabha, which is adjacent to Basra. When a vacancy occurred in the geonate of Pumbedita a few years before the death of Aha, the exilarch Solomon b. Hasdai appointed Natronai Kahana b. Emunah of Baghdad, a pupil of Rav Ahai, as gaon (748). Incensed at this slight, Rav Ahai left Babylonia (c. 750) and settled in Palestine. His departure deeply affected his contemporaries and many followed him. By the next generation a considerable number of Babylonian Jews were settled in Palestine. In many places they even built separate synagogues following the Babylonian ritual. The She'iltot (always so called, and not by the more correct name She'elata), was the first book written after the close of the Talmud to be attributed to its author. Much of its subject matter is very old, even antedating the final redaction of the Talmud. There are statements in the She'iltot that do not appear in the Talmud or which are there in a different version. It also contains "reversed discussions" (i.e., where the statements of the disputants are reversed, contradictory, or different from those in the standard texts). Other portions belong to the period of the savoraim and of the first geonim. A number of decisions cited by the geonim as the tradition of "many generations" or which refer to "earliest authorities" are verbally reproduced in the She'iltot. Even the legal terminology is identical with that of the legal decisions of the savoraim as transmitted by the geonim. Nevertheless, apart from his quotation of the decisions of other authorities, it can be assumed that the halakhic decisions are his own.
Hebrew Description
דרב אחאי גאון ... עם ראשון לציון ושאילת שלום, מהגאון ... ישעיה ברלין זצלה"ה ... [ועם] באור רחב ... מכונה העמק שאלה ... [מאת] נפתלי צבי יהודה בא"א הרב מוה' יעקב ברלין נ"י מוולאזין. חלק א-ג.
לכל חלק שער מיוחד. בחלקים ב-ג השתמש בעל "העמק שאלה" בפירושו בכתבי-יד. כן השתמש בחלקים אלה בפירוש קדמון על השאילתות, מאת ר' יוסף ב"ר שאול, שמצא בכתב-יד. בספר מפוזרים חידושיהם של ר' חיים ברלין, בן המחבר, ושל ר' רפאל שפירא, חתן המחבר. ראינו טופס בו צורפו לחלק א שער חדש וכן 7 דפים נוספים. הדפוסת בשער החדש: ווילנא, בדפוס האלמנה והאחים ראם, תרל"ב. הסכמת ר' דוד לוריא, ביחאב ישן, כח טבת תרט"ז. - חלק א
חלק א: ספר בראשית שמות. תרכ"א, 1861. ז, קכג דף. דף ג: הקדמותיהם של ר' ישעיה ברלין ושל חתנו ר' יוסף ב"ר מיכל מאיי. דף קיב, ב: "איזה חידושים", מאת ר' מיכאל ירמיהו אייזענשטאדט. חלק ב: ספר ויקרא ... שנת ל'מ'ע'ן' ר'ב' א'ח'א'י' א'ד'ב'ר'ה' [תרכ"ד], 1864. ח [צ"ל: ו], צב דף. דף פח-פט: תשובה מאת ר' בצלאל הכהן, מ"ץ בווילנא. דף צב: חידושים, מאת ר' מיכאל ירמיהו אייזענשטאדט. חלק ג: ספר במדבר דברים... ווילנא, דפוס אברהם יצחק דווארזעץ, שנת ב'ו'א'ו' ו'נ'ע'מ'י'ק' ש'א'ל'ה' [תרכ"ז], 1867. ז, ב [צ"ל: א]-קכו דף. דף קיא,ב-קיד,א: "שאילתות פ' משפטים" מתוך כתב-יד פטרבורג.
Reference Description
CD-NLI 0120369; EJ