Or Zeru'a Parts I-IV, R. Isaac b Moses of Vienna, Zhitomir 1862-90
אור זרוע חלק א-ד - First Edition - Hasidic
- Sold Winning Bid: $160.00 Reserve Price Met
- 12 Bid(s) View Bid History
- Lot Number 47389
- Title (English) Or Zeru'a Parts I-IV
- Title (Hebrew) אור זרוע חלק א-ד
- Note First Edition - Hasidic
- Author R. Hayyim ben Isaac Or Zeru'a
- City Zhitomir; Jerusalem
- Publisher Hanina Lipa & Joshua Hoeschel Shapira; דפוס חיים הירשענזאהן
- Publication Date 1862; 1887; 1890
- Estimated Price - Low 300
- Estimated Price - High 600
- Item # 1366549
- End Date
- Start Date
Physical Description
First editions. Parts I-II [4], 3-232; 4, 184 pp., 370:235 mm., wide margins, light age and damp staining, old stamps of previuos owners. A good copy loose in later boards, rubbed.
Parts III-IV, tall folio, 368:234 mm., wide margins, light age and damp staining, old stamps of previuos owners. A very good copy bound in later boards.
Detail Description
R. Isaac's monumental work Or Zaru'a shared the fate of similar halakhic works which were apparently not sufficiently copied because of their extensive nature, and as a result did not achieve large circulation. Only 600 years after his death were the first two parts of the work published (1862) from a manuscript in the possession of Akiva Lehren of Amsterdam. The first part deals with blessings, laws connected with the land of Israel, niddah and mikva'ot, laws of marriage, and a collection of responsa, mostly by the author, but some by other scholars. Part II contains topics which are now included in the Orah Hayyim section of the Shulhan Arukh. Two further parts were published at a later date (1887–90) from a manuscript in the British Museum. These contain halakhic rulings derived from the tractates Bava Kamma, Bava Mezia, Bava Batra, Sanhedrin, and Avodah Zarah. A supplement to this section, comprising decisions based on the tractate Shevu'ot, which had not been published in the previous collections because they were thought to pertain to tractate Shevi'it, was published by A. Freimann (in Festschrift zu I. Lewy... (1911), Heb. pt. 10–32). A number of abridgments have been made of the work, the best known of which is that by R. Isaac's son R. Hayyim b. Isaac Or Zaru'a, entitled Simanei Or Zaru'a which achieved a wide circulation although this work too was not at the disposal of all scholars. The quotations from R. Isaac Or Zaru'a in the Haggahot Asheri of R. Israel of Krems are from this abridgment. Although the work did not have a wide circulation, later authorities quote his views to a considerable extent from secondary sources, such as the Mordecai, the Haggahot Maimuniyyot, etc. The complete work constitutes a valuable collection of the halakhic rulings of German and French scholars, as well as being of great value for the history of Jewish communities in Europe during the Middle Ages (for instance, he discusses whether "our brothers in Bohemia" are permitted to carry arms on the Sabbath when they have to guard the city). A great part of the work is derived from his teacher R. Eliezer b. Joel ha-Levi, whose Ravyah was already available to R. Isaac. There is no definite information as to how the work was composed and edited, or the order in which the various parts were written. Before compiling the book, the author made notes and assembled data which were later written up, as he himself states (Or Zaru'a, pt. II, no. 38). He was still engaged in its compilation in 1246 (idem, Av. Zar. no. 107).
In 1847 the Shapira printing press was established by the three brothers Hanina Lipa, Aryeh Leib, and Joshua Heschel Shapira, sons of Samuel Abraham Abba Shapira, the printer in Slavuta. Until 1862 this was one of the only two Hebrew presses the Russian government permitted to operate in the whole of Russia, the other being in Vilna. This press had 18 hand presses and four additional large presses. In 1851 Aryeh Leib broke away and established his own printing press in Zhitomir. In these two establishments only sacred books of every kind were printed. During the years 1858–64 the press of the two brothers printed a beautiful edition of the Babylonian Talmud together with the Halakhot of Isaac Alfasi, while between 1860 and 1867 Aryeh Leib printed an edition of the Jerusalem Talmud.
Hebrew Description
עיין: אביגדור אפטוביצר, שבלים, הצופה מארץ הגר, א, תרע"א, עמ’ 88-90, המסכם: האו"ז שבידינו הוא קיצור מאו"ז הגדול, ויש עוד קיצור אחר יותר קצר.
חלק א-ב: נמצא... בכתב יד... בבית... עקיבא לעהרן ... מאמשטרדם ... ושמנו עליו... תקוני טעיות והשמטות... גם מראה מקומות לתלמוד בבלי וירושלמי והמיימוני... ואיזה הגהות.. ע"פ ספרי הראשונים אשר דברי המחבר באו בהם... גם ראינו כי נמצאו בו נוסחאות שונות מאשר נמצא בש"ס שלנו... והצגנו נוסחת הש"ס... גם נוסחת הכ"י לא זזה ממקומה. זיטאמיר, דפוס חנינא ליפא ויהושע עהשיל שפירא, תרכ"ב. [פסקי הלכות]. חברו... רבינו יצחק ב"ר משה נ"ע מווינא...
חלק א: על סדר זרעים, נשים, קדשים וטהרות. [2], 232 עמ'.
עמ' 12-5: "אלפא ביתא". "מלאני לבבי אני... המחבר... לפלפל באותיות של אלפא ביתא... לדרוש אלף האותיות שלו...".
עמ' 232-205: שאלות ותשובות.
חלק ב: על סדר מועד. 4, 184 עמ'.
חלק ג-ד: מכ"י... בריטיש-מוזעאום... זכיתי להוציא... פעם ראשונה... בנימין בלאאמ"ו... שמעון יקותיאל ז"ל פוזנא מק"ק פראנקפורט-א-מיין. ירושלם, דפוס חיים הירשענזאהן, תרמ"ז-תר"ן.
חלק ג: פסקי בבא קמא, בבא מציעא ובבא בתרא. עם הגהות מאת ר’ יעקב מרדכי הירשענזאהן. תרמ"ז-תרמ"ח. [4], 79, [1]; [1], 106; [1], 72 עמ’.
שער: תרמ"ז. לבבא מציעא ולבבא בתרא שערים קצרים על נייר צבעוני ובשוליהם: שנת אתה תקום ת’ר’ח’ם’ ציום [תרמ"ח].
חלק ד: פסקי סנהדרין ועבודה זרה. עם הגהות מאת ר’ חיים הירשענזאהן. תר"ן. [2], 79, [1] עמ’.
References
Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000309285; EJ; Urbach, Tosafot, 359–70; Samet, in: KS, 43 (1968), 435.