Physical Description:

[1], 5, 5-32 ff. folio 323:202 mm., wide margins, light age and damp staining, stamps. A good copy bound in contemporary boards, rubbed.

Bound with two other works.

Detailed Description:   

Responsa by R. Joseph ben Meir ha-Levi Ibn Migash, printed for the first time. Included are, as stated on the title page, Erlauuterungen ueber den Talmud Traktat Schebuoth, verfast Joseph Loewy, Lehrer des Maimonides, and novellae and responsa by R. Moses Sofer, the Hatam Sofer. In a letter from the Hatam Sofer to R. Zevi Hirsch the former, at the time still in Frankfurt am Main, explains that he had not intended to print a book, but that when the novellae of R. Ibn Migash on Shavuot and of the Ramban on Kiddushin were printed copies of his (Hatam Sofer) novellae were in the publishers hand and he included them. Also, some of his responsa were printed with the works of other rishonim. While Hatam Sofer speaks favorably of the individuals who did he makes it quite clear that it was not his intention nor did he intend them to be printed at this time. Included were two responsa concerning a doctor who is a Kohen and becomes tumah met and on Torat Nevi’im. He did not wish the name of the individual or community to be mentioned and he now requests that individuals permission or if that if he wishes his names to be removed.

R. Joseph ben Meir ha-Levi Ibn Migash (1077–1141) was one of greatest Spanish talmudic scholar of the third generation of Spanish rabbis. He studied first under R. Isaac b. Baruch Albalia , and at the age of 12 went to Lucena where he studied under Alfasi for 14 years. His teacher encouraged him, ordained him as rabbi and greatly honored him, even nominating him his successor as head of the yeshivah, though his own son was a talmudic scholar. Ibn Migash occupied this post for 38 years, until his death. R. Ibn Migash enjoyed an outstanding reputation among his contemporaries. Maimon , the father of Moses Maimonides , was apparently among his many pupils, and Maimonides, especially in his novellae on the Talmud, frequently relies upon the traditions of Ibn Migash, which, as he states, he had received from his father. In his introduction to his commentary on the Mishnah, he says of him, "The understanding of that man in Talmud was awe-inspiring… so that it could almost be said of him that never before had there been his like." Maimonides' attachment to Ibn Migash is so strong that for a long time he was erroneously thought to have been his pupil. R. Judah Halevi , from youth the friend of Ibn Migash, composed poems of praise in his honor, and it was he who formulated the letter to the scholars of Provence in which Ibn Migash sought an acquaintance with them and their teachings. This letter is the earliest extant document on the ties between the centers of learning in Provence and Spain.

Very little of Ibn Migash's work is extant. His novellae to Bava Batra (Amsterdam, 1702) and Shevu'ot (Salonika, 1759) have been published, but his commentary must have embraced at least half of the Talmud, and even the portion published is not complete in itself. His novellae to Bava Batra are quoted more extensively and fully in the works of other rishonim, and are found in superior form in the Shitah Mekubbezet to that tractate, and in Aghmati 's work, Sefer ha-Ner. A relatively small number of his responsa (translated from the original Arabic) have been published (Salonika, 1786); some are included in the works of others (e.g., in the responsa Pe'er ha-Dor, Amsterdam, 1765), and more are extant in manuscript. He is known to have composed a book of comments (which is not, however, extant) on the Hilkhot ha-Rif of his teacher. The works of Ibn Migash decisively influenced the study of Talmud in Spain and Provence. Meir *Abulafia , who summed up the teaching of the Spanish scholars until the generation of Naḥmanides incorporates – mostly anonymously – many of Ibn Migash's comments in his work. So does Naḥmanides, who transmitted them to his pupils and followers, such as R. Solomon b. Abraham Adret and R. Yom Tov b. Abraham Ishbili (the Ritba). They were well known in Provence, too, already being quoted by R. Abraham b. Isaac , who frequently relies upon them in his responsa. MEIR, the son of Joseph ibn Migash, was also a well-known scholar in Spain; his son Isaac served with Meir Abulafia on the bet din of Toledo in 1205. Among Meir's important pupils was R. Jonathan ha-Kohen of Lunel.

Hebrew Description: