Physical Description

Only edition, title in facsimile, 127, [5] ff., quarto, 185:150 mm., light age staining, closly trimmed margins, bound in later boards, rubbed.

Detail Description

Novellae and discourses on Genesis by R. Isaac ben Abraham Aberles Katz, darshan and av bet din in Cracow. Little is known about the author, except that he was highly regarded. The title page extols the author and his work, so subtle that he could

"make an elephant pass through the eye of a needle" (cf. Berakhot 55 b), truly the great darshan, first

         among darshanim ....... whose wondrous sermons are "sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb"

         (Psalms 19:11) ... .

The title page further informs that Toledot Yitzhak ben Avraham was brought to press by R. Katz's son, R. Solomon Zalman Katz, who filled his late father's place. It dates completion of work to Friday, Erev Shabbat Kodesh, 20 Elul, "all the words את כל (451 == September 14, 1691) of :his Torah well clarified" (Deuteronomy 27:8; Ki Tavo). There is an approbation signed by seven rabbis from the Va'ad Arba Aratzot, noteworthy in that it was given at a time when the Va'ad had prohibited the publication of Hebrew books, but it was not meant to restrict the work of such ~ great man. Solomon Zalman writes that he has added slightly to the work. The text follows in rabbinic type. Toledot Yitzhak ben Avraham concludes with a page of verse in three stanzas, the initial letters forming an acrostic of Solomon Zalman Kohen, and a detailed index of the discourses.

The discourses generally begin with a Midrash which is developed and interpreted. An example of R. Katz's acuity can be seen from the sources addressed in a single Torah reading. In parashat Noah, for example, twenty-one verses, Midrashim, and Talmudic sayings are explained, seventeen in Va- Yeshev, and nineteen in Va- Yiggash. Katz's style can be gleaned from the "beginning of Lekh Lekha, which states,

Midrash Rabbah, in that Abraham was afraid and said I will go out and the name of heaven will be profaned through me, for people will say he left an aged father and went out. A difficulty, why specifically in his old age? If he left his father when he was younger it would not be a transgression?

First, it is necessary to explain the Talmud (Satah 11a), "Three were involved in that counsel [before Pharaoh], Bilam, Job, and Jethro. Bilam who advised [that Jewish babies should be drowned] was slain. Job who was silent was punished with suffering. Jethro who fled merited, etc:' One can ask why was Job punished for being silent and what was there for him to do? If he advised as Bilam he would be liable death at the hand of Heaven ....

It seems to me that Job deserved affliction because of another sin ... but his silence now in the counsel of Pharaoh revealed retroactively that suffering was justified. To understand this it is necessary to explain a passage in Yevamat 48b ....

Hebrew Description

 אשר חיבר... ראש לכל הדרשנים... ר’ יצחק ר’ אברלש כץ ז"ל... מקראקא, שדרש דרושים... והובא לבית הדפוס ע"י בנו... ר’ שלמה זלמן כץ (דיין... דק"ק קראקא)... ‬

בהקדמה כותב ר’ שלמה זלמן: "וגם הוספתי קצת נופך מעט מזעיר משלי". בדף קכז הוסיף שיר הפותח: שמע קולי אלהים חי ויתהלל. אוצר השירה והפיוט, כרך ג, עמ’ 488, מס’ 1736. ‬

על ספר בראשית בלבד.

References:

Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000141503; Heller, zthr 17th Century Hebre Book pp. 1186-7