Physical Description

First edition. 56 ff., quarto, 261:1847 mm., wide margins, light age and damp staining. old hands and stamps.  A very good copy bound in contemporary boards, rubbed.

Detail Description

Discourses and novellae by R. Moses ben Jonathon Galante. R. Galante’s commentary includes both literal and esoteric explanations accompanied by glosses by R. Moses Hagiz. The volume was brought to press by R. Moses Sternberg of Cracow, who also provides an introiduction. After the Torah commentary, with its own title page, are novellae on several tractates. Both parts are preceded by approbations.

R. Moses ben Jonathon Galante (II) (1620–1689) served as rabbi in Jerusalem. He was called "Ha-Rav ha-Magen" after his major work Elef ha-Magen which includes one thousand responsa and cases (unpublished). He was the grandson of Moses b. Mordecai Galante (I). This R. Galante studied in Safed and later moved to Jerusalem where he became a leading rabbi and headed the yeshiva Bet Ya'akov. His students included R. Hezekiah b. David Da Silva, author of Peri Hadash, R. Israel Jacob Hagiz, his son-in-law (the father of R. Moses Hagiz), and R. Abraham Yizhaki, the rabbi of Jerusalem. He and other scholars instituted an ordinance (takkanah) that the scholars of Jerusalem would not use the title "rabbi" (in order that one scholar would not have authority over another). From 1667–68 he served as an emissary of Jerusalem to the cities of Turkey and Hungary. In 1673 he was again in Jerusalem. Galante was influenced by the Shabbatean movement for a time. In 1665 he and other rabbis from Jerusalem went to Gaza in order to seek purification of the soul from Nathan of Gaza. At the end of 1665 or early in 1666 Galante was in Aleppo where he was among the leading Shabbatean "prophets." According to the testimony in a letter from Aleppo (in Ms. Epstein, Vienna, Jewish Community Library 1418), Galante was the "hakham Moses Galante" who accompanied Shabbetai Zevi to Smyrna at the end of 1665 and was appointed by him "King Yehoshaphat." He also accompanied Shabbetai Zevi to Constantinople. R. Abraham Yizhaki testified that Galante said "Although I would not believe in Shabbetai Zevi, I would not deprecate him. But after I saw that in writing to one of his followers here, he signed himself 'I the Lord your God' [i.e., he wrote the Tetragrammaton in his own handwriting], I excommunicate him daily." His other published works are Korban Hagigah, sermons for the Three Festivals and novellae on the tractate Hagigah and on Maimonides' Yad ha-Hazakah (Venice, 1704, 1709).

Hebrew Description

למאן דזכה ... לאורייתא ... ר' משה בכמוהר"ר יהונתן גאלנטי זצוק"ל. הובא אל בית הדפוס על יד הצעיר שבתלמידיו ... נין ונכד למרי המחבר ז"ל ... משה בכמוהר"רי יעקב חאגיז זלה"ה ...

בהקדמה הקצרה שמעבר לשער אומר המחבר: "ובלי נדר אכתוב בקונטריס זה מה שיחנני ה' י"ת במשך שנה זו שנת התמ"ו ... בקהל רב בשלש רגלים הבאים לקראתינו לשלום פה ירושלם".
כולל דרשות לשלוש רגלים וחידושים שרשם המחבר באותה שנה.
מעבר לשער: הקדמת ר' משה חאגיז, שהוסיף גם הערות ומפתחות לספר.
דף מח,ב-נ: פרפראות לחכמה ... קצת מגמטריאות שעשה ... על סדר המקרא.
דף נה: לקט ... מצאתי בין כתיבות מ"ה מ"ז ז"ל שורש הדברים שכתבן הרב א"א ז"ל [אדוני אבי ר' יעקב חאגיז] בח"ב מהלק"ט [בחלק ב מהלכות קטנות, ויניזיאה תס"ד, סי'] יד משם מר חמיו ז"ל ... והובאו כאן בדרך ארוכה אגב תוספת חידושיהו ... למה פרשת מזבח הקטרת לא נכתב' עם כל הכלים.
עמ' אחרון: התנצלות ... המגיה ... משלם זלמן בכמהח"ר אברהם ברך פינקירלי ז"ל ... כי כל ההדפסה נגמרה ע"י אומנים שלא מבני עמינו ...

Reference

EJ; Bibliography of the Hebrew Book 1470-1960 #000123224