Physical Description

folio, [1], 59 ff. 345:220 mm., nice margins, lightdamp & age staining. A good copy bound in cloth over boards.

 

Detail Description

Comprehensive Masoret ha-Shas for the entire Talmud Bavli and the Talmud Yerushalmi arranged by R. Joshua Heschel ben Elijah Zeev ha-Levi (1818-83). The title-page informs that the contents have been assembled from varied scattered sources. There is a preface from R. Joshua Heschel and then the text clearly arranged by tractate.

Masoret ha-Shas, originally entitled Masoret ha-Talmud, were first arranged as marginal notes to the Talmud giving cross-references to parallel passages in the Talmud by R. Joshua Boaz (16^th century), an Italian scholar and printer. One of the Spanish exiles (from Catalonia), Joshua Boaz settled in Italy and took up residence in Sabbioneta and in Sarigliano. He was the author of several talmudic reference works: (1) Ein Mishpat, giving the references where the laws of the Talmud can be found in the early codes – Mishneh Torah, Sefer Mitzvot Gadol, and Arba'ah Turim; (2) Ner Mitzvah, an enumeration of the laws cited in the Ein Mishpat; (3) Torah Or, giving source references of the biblical verses in the Talmud, which were first added to M.A. Giustiani's edition of the Babylonian Talmud (Venice, 1546/51), and have since appeared in almost every edition of the Talmud; (4) Shiltei ha-Gibborim on the Rif of R. Isaac Alfasi and the Mordekhai of R. Mordecai b. Hillel (published with the Hilkhot Alfasi, Sabbioneta, 1554/55), containing supplementary halakhot, differing views and criticisms of Alfasi by the greatest posekim, as well as the talmudic novellae of Isaiah di Trani (the Younger). Since its introduction Masoret ha-Shas has been an essential component of all editions of the Talmud. This edition stands out in that it assembles all the entries spread out through all the tractates of the Talmud Bavli and the Talmud Yerushalmi into one volume in addition to its comprehensiveness.

 

Hebrew Description

  על כל תלמוד בבלי מתלמודא דבני מערבא הוא תלמוד ירושלמי... וקראתים בשם ציון יהושע, מאתי יהושע העשיל בהרב... מ’ אלי’ זאב הלוי זצ"ל מווילנא בק"ק וולאזין...

תוך ההקדמה: החילותי להדפיסם בעלים נפרדים... <והוצאתי לאור הדפוס זה כבר על מס’ ברכות וזרעים וראשית מס’ שבת...>. והנה נפצו העלים לכל רוח. ונוכחתי כי לא זה הדרך... לזאת ראיתי לחברם יחד, שיהי’ מחובר לכרך אחרון מהש"ס. ‬

בראש השער: תשלום להש"ס הנדפסים. בראשי העמודים: ציון יהושע

 

References

Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000143012; EJ